Name: Peas Stewed with Oil
Ingredients: ½ peck of peas; ½ lettuce, chopped small; a little mint; 1 small onion, chopped; 2 tablespoons of oil; 2 teaspoons of powdered sugar; water (enough to cover the peas)

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 ↓

Peas Stewed with Oil

Ingredients

Directions

Put the peas, chopped lettuce, mint, onion, oil, and powdered sugar in a stew-pan.
Add enough water to cover the peas.
Stew gently, stirring occasionally to prevent burning, until the peas are perfectly soft. They should look yellowish brown when done.

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).
Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,293 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Lettuce + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,562 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + minttop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together569 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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

Peas: Form the main body of the dish, softening into a tender, spoonable mass as they stew.
Lettuce: Adds moisture and a mild, sweet vegetable base that helps the peas break down.
Oil: Adds fat for richer mouthfeel and helps carry the flavours of the mint and onion.
Powdered sugar: Adds a touch of sweetness and supports gentle browning as the stew darkens.

The step that matters

Stewing until perfectly soft. Stirring occasionally prevents the bottom from scorching, and a long, gentle simmer is needed to fully soften the peas. Too little heat leaves them firm; too much or too little stirring can burn the base.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, lettuce, mint, sugar):

Cucumberfits better
Beetrootfits better
Asparagusfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, lettuce, mint, 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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Peas Stewed with Oil