Name: Green Pea Soup
Ingredients: 1 peck (about 8 quarts) of young peas, shelled; 1 quart of water; 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1 quart of beef stock; 1 onion, finely chopped; a few leaves of lettuce, finely chopped; a little parsley, finely chopped; a little mint, finely chopped

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 Pea Soup

Ingredients

1 peck (about 8 quarts) of young peas, shelled
1 quart of water
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 quart of beef stock
1 onion, finely chopped
a few leaves of lettuce, finely chopped
a little parsley, finely chopped
a little mint, finely chopped

Directions

Make the stock

Shell the peas and place the shells in a pot with 1 quart of water, salt, and sugar.
Boil for 1 hour, then strain through a colander or sieve.
Return the liquid to the pot and add 1 quart of beef stock.

Cook and serve

Add the chopped onion, lettuce, parsley, mint, and the shelled peas.
Boil until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
Season to taste and serve.

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.

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.

Peas + minttop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,137 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,483 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,293 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Parsley + minttop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,198 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Young peas: Provide the main body and sweet, vegetal flavor of the soup.
Onion: Adds savory depth as it softens during simmering.
Beef stock: Supplies savory, meaty flavor and liquid to the soup.
Lettuce: Adds mild sweetness and softens into the soup as it cooks.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, sugar, beef, lettuce, parsley, mint):

Cucumberfits better
Carrotfits better
Shallotfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, sugar, beef, lettuce, parsley, mint. 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.