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Asparagus Sauce

A cold vinaigrette made with oil, white wine vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper, served over asparagus.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: White wine and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,776 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Asparagus Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Combine oil, white wine vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper in a bowl.

  2. Mix well until combined.

Serve

  1. Pour the sauce over cold asparagus arranged on a dish.

  2. Serve the sauce cold, or substitute lemon juice for vinegar if preferred.

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.

  1. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. White wine + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. White wine + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Oil
Provides richness and a smooth mouthfeel, and carries the flavour of the other ingredients.
White wine vinegar
Adds acidity that cuts through the oil and brightens the sauce.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Mix well until combined. Oil and vinegar naturally separate. Thorough mixing breaks the oil into tiny droplets dispersed through the vinegar, so the sauce stays evenly blended and coats the asparagus rather than pooling on top.

“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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