Name: Green-peas Soup, H, LA Conde
Ingredients: 2 cups green peas; 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth; 1 onion, chopped; 2 tablespoons butter; Salt to taste; Pepper to taste; 1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped (optional)

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-peas Soup, H, LA Conde

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.

Make the soup

In a pot, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent.
Stir in the green peas and cook for 2 minutes.
Pour in the broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Blend the soup until smooth, then season with salt and pepper.

Serve

Garnish with fresh mint if desired.

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.

Peas + minttop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,137 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Pepper + minttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,372 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,460 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

Green peas: Provide the main body of flavour and the soup's bright green colour.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour from the aromatics.
Onion: Builds a sweet, savoury base as it softens in the butter.
Vegetable or chicken broth: Supplies the liquid that cooks the peas and sets the soup's texture once blended.

The step that matters

Simmer gently and blend until smooth. Peas cooked in liquid soften fully, and blending while they are hot gives a smooth texture. Overcooking can dull the green colour, so keep the simmer gentle and the timing close to the recipe.

Swap the mint

The recipe marks mint as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, chicken, onion, butter, pepper):

Garlicfits better
Thymefits better
Parsleyfits better
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, chicken, onion, butter, 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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Green-peas Soup, H, LA Conde