Name: To Stew Old Peas
Ingredients: 1 pint weak stock; 1 slice ham or bacon; 3 pints peas; 1 teaspoon pounded loaf sugar; 1 bit butter; flour

Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Stew Old Peas

Ingredients

Directions

In a saucepan, combine the weak stock, ham or bacon, and peas.
Add the pounded loaf sugar and cover the pan tightly.
Stew for about 1 hour or until the peas are tender.
Remove the ham or bacon and add a bit of butter rolled in flour.
Serve hot.

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.

Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,887 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Peas: Form the main body of the stew, becoming tender and soft as they cook.
Weak stock: Provides the liquid that gently cooks the peas and carries flavour through the stew.
Ham or bacon: Adds savoury, smoky flavour to the stock while the peas stew.
Butter rolled in flour: Thickens the stew's liquid slightly and adds richness at the end.