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Spring Asparagus Salad

"This is a nice and simple cold salad that is nothing more than asparagus dressed in a Chinese-influenced vinaigrette topped with sesame seeds. It's a great way to celebrate the arrival of the asparagus crops!"

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 9 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

1 1/2 pounds
Prep20 min
Cook5 min

Ingredients

Contains: peanut, 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. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the asparagus pieces and boil for 2 to 3 minutes until bright green and just tender.

  2. Drain the asparagus well and rinse under cold running water to stop the cooking. Pat dry with a clean towel and set aside.

  3. In a small bowl, whisk the rice vinegar, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, white sugar and Dijon mustard until the sugar dissolves.

  4. Slowly whisk in the peanut oil and sesame oil until the dressing looks smooth and slightly thickened.

  5. Toast the sesame seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes, shaking the pan often, until golden. Remove from the heat right away.

  6. Place the asparagus in a serving bowl, pour the dressing over it and toss to coat evenly.

  7. Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds over the salad and serve at room temperature or lightly chilled.

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. Peanut oil + sesametop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together220 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

  3. Rice + sesametop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together643 recipes

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

  4. Rice + asparagustop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together244 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Vinegar + mustardtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Vinegar and mustard share little aroma chemistry, yet 14,067 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, vinegar, red wine, sauce, sugar, peanut oil, sesame):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Tomatoabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Cucumberabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, vinegar, red wine, sauce, sugar, peanut oil, sesame. 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).