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Peas Soup

A hearty soup made with split peas, water, bacon or bones, celery, onions, and herbs, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 615 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Peas Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. If using salted meat, tie the peas in a cloth and boil them in soft water for 1 hour.

  2. Combine the peas and 3 quarts of cold soft water in a large pot.

  3. Add the bacon, beef bones, or anchovies, then the celery, onions, and herbs.

Simmer and strain

  1. Simmer gently over low heat for about 3 hours, stirring every 15 minutes to prevent sticking.

  2. Optionally, fry sliced celery and onions in butter until lightly browned, then add to the soup.

  3. Strain the soup through a coarse sieve or tammis.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Celery + marjoramtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together615 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Onion + marjoramtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,056 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Peas + celerytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Split peas
Break down during long simmering to thicken the soup and give it body.
Bacon
Adds smoky, savory fat and salt flavor to the broth.
Celery
Contributes aromatic, vegetal flavor to the broth.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth as they soften and dissolve into the broth.

The step that matters

Stirring during the long simmer. Split peas are starchy and settle on the bottom of the pot, where they scorch and stick easily over long cooking. Regular stirring keeps them moving and prevents a burnt taste.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, celery, onion, marjoram):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Black-eyed peafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, celery, onion, marjoram. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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