Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Dried Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Combine the peas and water in a large pot.
Boil for 1 to 1.5 hours, or until the peas are very soft.
Rub the peas through a colander back into the pot.
Place the pot back on the stove and add salt, pepper, and butter. Stir until the butter is melted.
Fry the bread and serve
Heat lard in a frying pan. Fry the bread squares until brown.
Serve the soup in bowls and add the fried bread just before serving.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Peas + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).
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Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,331 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dried peas
- Break down into a thick, smooth body when boiled and pressed through a colander.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.
- Bread
- Fried until brown, it adds a crisp, toasted contrast to the soft soup.
- Lard
- Fat for frying the bread, which gives it browning and a rich flavour.
The step that matters
Boil until the peas are very soft. Dried peas must be fully cooked so they break down easily when pressed. Under-cooked peas stay grainy and the soup will not become smooth.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, bread):
- Lima beansfits about as well
- Peasthe original
- Beansfits about as well
- Walnutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, bread. 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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