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Pea Soup

A simple soup made from dry peas, pork, and saleratus, simmered until soft.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Pea Soup

Why it works: Peas and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,589 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Soak and boil

  1. Soak the dry peas in cold water overnight.

  2. Boil the peas in the same water for 1 hour.

  3. Just before finishing, add the saleratus.

Finish the soup

  1. Drain the peas in a colander.

  2. Return the peas to the pot with the piece of pork and add fresh water.

  3. Boil until soft.

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.

  1. Peas + porktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,589 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

Dry peas
Break down as they cook, releasing starch that thickens the soup and gives it body.
Saleratus
An alkaline leavener that helps peas soften faster by raising the pH of the cooking liquid.
Pork
Adds fat and savory, meaty flavor to the broth as it simmers with the peas.

The step that matters

Adding the saleratus just before finishing. Alkaline saleratus speeds softening, but added too early or in too large an amount it can make the peas mushy and leave a soapy, off flavor. Adding it near the end keeps control over texture.

“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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