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Split-peas Pudding

A savory pudding made from soaked split peas, boiled, mashed, and seasoned with butter and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,887 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Split-peas Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Soak the split peas in water overnight.

  2. Drain the peas.

  3. Place the drained peas in a loose cloth to allow swelling.

Cook and shape

  1. Boil the peas for 4 hours or until tender.

  2. Rub the peas through a colander until smooth.

  3. Mix in butter and salt until well combined.

  4. Place the mixture back in the cloth.

  5. Tie the cloth tightly.

  6. Boil for 1 hour.

Serve

  1. Serve with melted butter poured over the pudding.

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

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

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Peas + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Yellow split peas
Form the main body of the pudding, softening into a smooth, thick mass when cooked and rubbed.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the smooth pea mixture.
Eggs
Help bind the pudding and give it a set structure when cooked.

The step that matters

Tie the cloth tightly. A loose cloth lets water escape and the pudding can turn out soggy or fall apart. Keeping it snug holds the shape and helps the pudding set firmly during the long boil.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg):

  1. Pecansfits better
  2. Almondfits better
  3. Filbertfits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg. 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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