Why it works: Peas and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,309 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Pea Puree
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas
Soak the dried peas in cold water for 12 hours.
Skim off any floating peas, then drain and tie them loosely in a cloth.
Cook and puree
Plunge the cloth into a saucepan with plenty of cold water and 1 teaspoon of washing soda for each quart.
Cook the peas until soft, which should take less than 3 hours.
Remove the peas from the cloth and beat them into a pulp.
If needed, pass the pulp through a coarse sieve using milk or broth to help.
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.
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Peas + milktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,309 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dried peas
- Form the bulk of the puree, providing starch that thickens into a smooth, body-rich texture when cooked and broken down.
- Washing soda
- Raises the water's alkalinity, which helps the peas soften quickly and break down into a pulp.
- Milk or broth
- Adds moisture that loosens the pulp so it passes smoothly through the sieve.
The step that matters
Cook the peas until soft. Peas must be cooked fully soft so they break down into a smooth pulp; undercooked peas stay grainy and resist sieving. Stop before they lose all shape and turn watery.
“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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