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Pur&E of Peas

A creamy pea puree made with peas, milk, butter, flour, ham, onion, bay leaf, cloves, parsley, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Pur&E of Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Wash the peas in cold water.

  2. Place the washed peas in a saucepan with cold water.

  3. Bring the peas to a boil.

  4. If using canned peas, boil for 20 minutes; if using dried peas, boil for 2 hours or until tender.

  5. When done, the water should be almost absorbed.

  6. Press the peas through a colander.

Make the milk and thickening

  1. Meanwhile, boil the milk in a separate pot with the bay leaf, chopped onion, cloves, parsley, and ham for 20 minutes.

  2. Rub the butter and flour together until smooth.

Finish and serve

  1. Strain the boiled milk into the pressed peas.

  2. Return the mixture to the pot.

  3. Stir in the flour and butter mixture.

  4. Continue stirring until it thickens and boils for 3 minutes.

  5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

  6. Serve with veal cutlets or mutton chops.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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 once cooked and pressed smooth.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, softening the puree into a creamy texture.
Butter and flour
Form a roux-style paste that thickens the puree when stirred in.
Ham
Flavours the milk with savoury, smoky depth during the infusion.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savour to the infused milk.

The step that matters

Stirring in the butter and flour mixture. Flour thickens only when heated while stirred and brought to a boil; stopping early leaves the puree thin and floury-tasting, while stirring constantly prevents lumps from forming.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, clove, onion, milk, pepper, parsley):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Lentilsfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, clove, onion, milk, pepper, 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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