Why it works: Wheat and asparagus share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 40 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 6Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat, 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.
Heat the oven to 450°F (232°C) and place a baking sheet or pizza pan in it to heat.
Let the thawed pizza dough rest on the counter for 10 minutes, then stretch it into a large rough oval or rectangle on an oiled sheet of parchment, using 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil.
Brush the dough with 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil, then sprinkle it with the garlic powder and sesame seeds.
Scatter the asparagus, sliced shallot, and sliced mushrooms over the dough, then sprinkle with the crushed red pepper flakes.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the crust is golden and the edges are crisp and the vegetables are tender.
Scatter the crumbled goat cheese over the hot flatbread and bake 2 to 3 minutes more, until the cheese softens.
Let the flatbread rest for 2 minutes, then slice and serve warm.
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.
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Wheat + asparagustop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together40 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sesame + asparagustop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together73 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
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Shallot + mushroomtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,960 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Shallot + asparagustop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together137 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Asparagus + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together400 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sesame, wheat, garlic, asparagus, mushroom, goat cheese, pepper):
- Spinachbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Shallotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sesame, wheat, garlic, asparagus, mushroom, goat cheese, pepper. 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).
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