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Puree of Peas

A creamy puree made from boiled peas and potatoes, seasoned with white pepper, salt, cream, butter, and served with diced toast and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Puree of Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Make the puree

  1. Boil peas and potatoes in water until very soft.

  2. Skim out the peas and potatoes.

  3. Pass the skimmed mixture through a colander.

  4. Return the strained mixture to the pot.

Finish and serve

  1. Season the mixture with white pepper and salt.

  2. Stir in cream or milk and butter.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  4. Serve with diced toast and chopped parsley.

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. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Peas + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,016 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Peas + parsleytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,885 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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 puree and give it its green flavour and thick texture.
Potatoes
Add starch that helps the puree thicken and feel smooth and creamy.
Cream or milk
Adds fat and moisture, making the puree richer and silkier.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Pass the mixture through a colander. Straining breaks down and removes fibrous skins and bits, so the puree comes out smooth rather than grainy or stringy.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, potato, cream, butter, parsley):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, potato, cream, butter, parsley. 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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