Name: Asparagus Salad
Ingredients: 1 bunch asparagus; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; ⅓ cup strong cider vinegar; 2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter

Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Asparagus Salad

Ingredients

1 bunch asparagus
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
⅓ cup strong cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter

Directions

Prepare

Wash and scrape the asparagus.
Boil the asparagus in salted water until soft.

Dress and serve

Drain the water and add pepper, salt, and cider vinegar.
Cool the asparagus.
Arrange the asparagus with the heads in the center of the dish.
Mix the vinegar with olive oil or melted butter and pour over the asparagus.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,431 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Asparagus + olivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,096 recipes

Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Asparagus + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,968 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus: Forms the body of the salad and carries the dressing.
Cider vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the fat in the dressing.
Olive oil or melted butter: Adds fat and richness that coats the asparagus and softens the sharpness of the vinegar.