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Pease Soup, Prepared with Salt Pork

A hearty soup made from split peas, salt pork, and vegetables, simmered until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Pease Soup, Prepared with Salt Pork

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Soak the split peas in water overnight.

Cook the soup

  1. In a pot, combine soaked peas, salt pork, and 4 cups of water.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.

  3. Add onion, carrots, and celery; cook until vegetables are tender.

  4. Remove salt pork, chop, and return to the soup.

  5. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper to taste.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Split peas
Break down during simmering to thicken the soup and give it body.
Salt pork
Releases fat and savory flavor into the broth as it simmers.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth as it softens in the broth.
Carrots
Contribute sweetness and color while softening into the soup.
Celery
Adds aromatic, savory flavor and a tender vegetable texture.

The step that matters

Simmer the peas until tender. Split peas need a long, gentle simmer to soften fully and thicken the broth. Boiling hard can break the soup unevenly and scorch the bottom, so keep the heat low once it boils.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, onion, carrot, celery, pepper):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Black-eyed peafits better
  3. Sesamefits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, onion, carrot, celery, pepper. 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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