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Tangy Couscous with Asparagus

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Why it works: Mustard and asparagus match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 213 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

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

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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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. Mustard + asparagustop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together213 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Lemon + chickpeatop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Lemon + asparagustop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together704 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Mustard + chickpeatop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together91 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Sauce + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,120 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 chickpea

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, butter, mustard, lemon, asparagus):

  1. Beansbetter flavor fit
  2. Sesamebetter flavor fit
  3. Peasbetter flavor fit
  4. Chickpeathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, butter, mustard, lemon, 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).