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Grilled Soy-Sesame Asparagus

"This asparagus pairs especially well with Asian types of grilled foods, such as kebabs or satays."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sesame and asparagus share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 73 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep10 min
Cook8 min

Ingredients

Contains: soy, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium-high heat, about 450°F (232°C).

  2. In a small bowl, whisk together the toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, minced garlic and brown sugar until the sugar dissolves.

  3. Place the trimmed asparagus on a plate or tray and brush or toss it with about half of the soy-sesame mixture.

  4. Grill the asparagus for 6 to 8 minutes, turning occasionally, until tender-crisp and lightly charred in spots.

  5. Transfer the asparagus to a serving platter and drizzle with the remaining soy-sesame mixture.

  6. Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds over the asparagus and serve warm.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Sesame + asparagustop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together73 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Sesame + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,999 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + asparagustop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together604 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).

  4. Sesame + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together921 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sauce + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,144 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sesame, sauce, sugar, asparagus):

  1. Gingerbetter flavor fit
  2. Garlicthe original
  3. Cinnamonabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Tarragonabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against sesame, sauce, sugar, asparagus. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).