Name: To Cook Asparagus
Ingredients: Asparagus stalks; Water; Cream (optional); Toasted bread or biscuits (optional)

Why it works: Asparagus and bread work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 363 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

To Cook Asparagus

Ingredients

Asparagus stalks
Water
Cream (optional)
Toasted bread or biscuits (optional)

Directions

Cut off the tough ends of the asparagus stalks.
Place the stalks in cold water and boil for 20 to 30 minutes until tender but not soft.
Alternatively, wash and cut the asparagus into small pieces.
Put the pieces in a kettle, cover with water, and boil for about 30 minutes.
Add a little cream before removing from heat.
Serve over toasted bread or biscuits if desired.

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.

Asparagus + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together363 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Asparagus + creamtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together838 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Cream + breadtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,789 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).