Why it works: Peas and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 31% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,928 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Green Peas
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Gather fresh peas just before cooking.
Shell the peas and place them in boiling water, ensuring they are well covered.
Cook
Boil for 20 minutes, adjusting time for older peas.
If desired, wash some pods and add them with the peas.
Keep the water level above the peas and avoid boiling too hard to prevent mushiness.
Add salt to the water when cooking the peas.
If using, add sugar to a quart of peas.
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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Peas + sugartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,928 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh green peas
- Form the main body of the dish, so their freshness and tenderness set the texture.
The step that matters
Avoid boiling too hard. A vigorous boil breaks down the peas' cell walls and makes them mushy. Keeping the water level above the peas and a gentler simmer keeps them tender but intact.
“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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