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Peas, Green, Boiled

Boiled green peas seasoned with salt, butter, and mint.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Peas, Green, Boiled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shell the peas just before cooking.

  2. Bring water to a boil and add salt.

Cook the peas

  1. Add peas and mint to boiling water.

  2. Boil uncovered for 15-20 minutes until soft.

  3. Drain peas and return to the pan.

Finish and serve

  1. Add butter and mix until melted.

  2. Serve immediately.

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. Peas + minttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Butter + minttop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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
The main vegetable; boiling softens their starch and cell walls until tender.
Butter
Adds fat that melts over the hot peas, giving richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Fresh mint
Adds a fresh, aromatic herbal note that complements the sweetness of the peas.

The step that matters

Boil for 15-20 minutes until soft, then drain promptly. Prolonged heat softens peas past tender and breaks down their green chlorophyll, so they turn dull olive and mushy. Checking early and draining straight away keeps them bright and firm-tender.

“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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