Why it works: Peas and mint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,137 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Green Peas
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Shell the peas just before cooking.
Boil 1 quart of water for young peas or 2 quarts for old peas.
Cook
Add 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt to the boiling water and skim it.
Add the peas to the boiling water and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, tasting to check doneness.
Drain the peas in a fine colander and transfer to a warm vegetable dish.
Serve
Add a few bits of butter among the peas and serve.
If desired, boil fresh young spear-mint with the peas or serve it minced on a plate.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Peas + minttop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,137 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + minttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,559 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh green peas
- Form the main body of the dish, giving its tender, sweet flavour when cooked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky moisture to the warm peas.
The step that matters
Cook the peas until just done. Peas go from bright green and tender to soft and dull with overcooking, because prolonged heat breaks down their cell walls and chlorophyll. Tasting during cooking lets the cook stop at the right moment, and the young and old peas need different amounts of water.
“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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