Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Green Pea Puree Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the soup
In a three-quart saucepan, boil the green peas in plenty of salted water with the carrot and onion until soft.
Remove the carrot and onion, then drain the peas through a colander.
Pass the peas through a tammy sieve back into the saucepan.
Finish and simmer
Add the stock and sugar, stirring until it just comes to a boil.
Reduce heat and let it simmer.
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.
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + carrottop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,994 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,460 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + sugartop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,211 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Peas + sugartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,928 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Green peas
- Form the main body of the soup and give it its flavour and colour.
- Stock
- Adds liquid and savoury depth, thinning the purée into a soup.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds a touch of sweetness that rounds out the flavour of the peas.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, carrot, sugar):
- Parsnipfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against peas, carrot, sugar. 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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