Why it works: Asparagus and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,338 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Asparagus, Spanish Style
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the asparagus as in recipe No. 71.
Cook the asparagus and drain them on a napkin.
Once dry, place the asparagus on a dish.
Poach the eggs in the asparagus water.
Serve each person with one soft-poached egg and a bowl of vinaigrette sauce.
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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Asparagus + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,338 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Asparagus + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together573 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + saucetop 39% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,895 recipes
Egg and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,895 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the asparagus
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sauce):
- Horseradishfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Asparagusthe original
- Welsh onionfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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