Why it works: Butter and peas are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,887 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Place the meat in a kettle with a small amount of water and the butter to prevent burning.
Stew the meat to extract its juices before adding the remaining water.
Cook for 6 to 8 hours to create a rich soup.
Avoid using previously cooked meat for the best flavor.
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.
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Butter + peastop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Meat + peastop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together573 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh meat
- Supplies the flavor, juices and body that make up the soup.
- Butter
- Adds fat that helps keep the meat from scorching at the start of cooking.
The step that matters
Start the meat with a small amount of water and butter. Meat in a dry kettle can scorch before its juices release. A little water and fat conduct heat gently, so the meat browns less harshly and its juices extract into the broth.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, butter):
- Pecansfits better
- Filbertfits better
- Almondfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, butter. 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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