An earthenware bowl of thick yellow pea soup flecked with dried mint, with three slices of boiled salt pork, a wooden spoon and an empty bowl beside it. — Pea soup with boiled salt pork.

Pease Soup for Sea (1747)

Name: Pease Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h 45 min
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 1 lb salt pork with streaks of lean, in one piece; 1 lb yellow split peas; 2 quarts water, plus a little more as needed; 1 medium onion, peeled and halved; 1 celery stalk, cut in three; 3 sprigs fresh thyme; 3 sprigs fresh parsley; ½ tsp black peppercorns; 1 tbsp dried mint; 1 tbsp portable soup (optional); Salt, to taste

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Hannah Glasse’s pease soup for sea, 1747: split peas and salt pork with onion, celery and herbs, sieved and finished with dried mint and portable soup, for ships.

By The Forgotten MenuPublished Oct 28, 2026

Recipe makes: About 2 quarts, 6 servings
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 2 hr 30 min
Total: 2 hr 45 min

Put the salt pork to soak in cold water the night before, as Glasse does, to draw out some of the salt.

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Pea soup with boiled salt pork.

The story behind the recipe

Three days a week on James Cook’s second voyage, each man’s ounce of portable soup was boiled with his pease, Cook wrote in 1776. Hannah Glasse’s Art of Cookery of 1747 prints the soup in a chapter “For Captains of Ships,” and ends it with the same idea: “If you add a Piece of the portable Soop, it will be very good.”

What went into pease soup at sea?

Things a ship carried. A quart of dried peas boils in two gallons of water until tender; then a piece of salt pork or beef “which has been laid in Water the Night before” goes in with two onions, a bundle of sweet herbs, “Salary if you have it” and whole pepper. When the meat is cooked it comes out, the soup is strained, set back to boil and a good deal of dry mint is rubbed in. The meat goes back for a few minutes before serving. Most of it would keep in a ship’s hold, and Glasse allows for the celery running out.

Making it today

Yellow split peas cook in under an hour and need no soaking. Glasse’s peas were most likely whole and slower, and she doesn’t name a color. Salt pork still comes salted hard, so soak it overnight as she did and taste the soup before adding any salt. The portable soup is optional; make it from Portable Soup (1747), or leave it out. The story of the ship’s stores is in What Did Captain Cook Feed His Crew to Keep Them Well?

TAKE a Quart of Peas, boil them in two Gallons of Water till they are tender, then have ready a Piece of salt Pork, or Beef, which has been laid in Water the Night before; put it into the Pot, with two large Onions peeled, and a Bundle of Sweet Herbs, Salary if you have it, half a quarter of an Ounce of whole Pepper, let it boil till the Meat is enough, then take it up; and if the Soop is not enough, let it boil till the Soop is good; then strain it, and set it on again to boil, and rub in a good deal of dry Mint. Keep the Meat hot, and when the Soop is ready, put in the Meat again for a few Minutes, and let it boil; then serve it away. If you add a Piece of the portable Soop, it will be very good.

Hannah GlasseThe Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (London, 1747), For Captains of Ships, To make Peas Soop, p. 123

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Ingredients

For about 2 quarts, 6 servings. Quantities are shown as written.

Quantities as written here, for about 2 quarts, 6 servings.

Salt pork with streaks of lean, in one piece1 lb
Yellow split peas1 lb
Water, plus a little more as needed2 quart
Medium onion, peeled and halved1
Celery, cut in three1 stalk
Fresh thyme3 sprigs
Fresh parsley3 sprigs
Black peppercorns1/2 tsp
Dried mint1 tbsp
Portable soup (optional)1 tbsp
Salt, to taste

Ingredients as written here

1 lb salt pork with streaks of lean, in one piece
1 lb yellow split peas
2 quarts water, plus a little more as needed
1 medium onion, peeled and halved
1 celery stalk, cut in three
3 sprigs fresh thyme
3 sprigs fresh parsley
½ tsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp dried mint
1 tbsp portable soup (optional)
Salt, to taste

Equipment

Large bowl, for soaking
Large heavy pot with a lid, about 5 quarts
Cheesecloth and kitchen string
Food mill, sieve or blender

Instructions

The night before, put the salt pork in the bowl, cover it with cold water and refrigerate.
Rinse the split peas and put them in the pot with the water. Bring to a boil, skim off the foam, then cover partly and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring now and then, until the peas are soft.
Tie the thyme, parsley and peppercorns in a square of cheesecloth. Drain the pork and add it to the pot with the onion, celery and the herb bag.
Simmer gently, partly covered, for about 1½ hours, until a knife slides easily into the pork. Stir from the bottom now and then so the peas don’t stick, and add a little hot water if the soup gets too thick to stir.
Lift out the pork, cover it and keep it warm. Take out the herb bag and squeeze it over the pot.
Pass the soup, with its onion and celery, through the food mill or sieve, or blend it until smooth. Return it to the pot and bring it back to a boil.
Rub the dried mint between your palms over the pot and stir it in. Stir in the portable soup, if using, until it melts. Taste and add salt only if it needs it.
Cut the pork into thick slices, put it back in the soup for 5 minutes to heat through, and serve.

Nutrition

800calories per serving

Recipe makes: About 2 quarts, 6 servings
Servings: 6

Estimated per serving from USDA FoodData Central values for split peas, salt pork, onion and celery.

Recipe notes

When adjusting quantities

This uses a quarter of Glasse’s water and about half her peas; she took a quart of peas to two gallons of water.

Notes

Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.

We use a quarter of Glasse’s water (2 quarts for her two gallons) and about half her peas (a pound of split peas, where a quart of dried peas weighs about two), our choice for a thicker soup. She leaves the size of the pork, the herbs in the bundle, the amount of mint and the cooking times to the cook, so we chose them. We use salt pork only, where she allows pork or beef, one onion for her two large ones, and a tablespoon of our portable soup for her “Piece.” Split peas in place of whole ones, the cheesecloth bag, the blender and slicing the pork are our changes. Choose salt pork with some lean; pure fatback won’t slice. Contains celery.

Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.