Name: Asparagus Salad
Ingredients: watercress; tomatoes; asparagus tips; Hygia dressing

Why it works: Watercress and asparagus share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Asparagus Salad

Ingredients

watercress
tomatoes
asparagus tips
Hygia dressing

Directions

Cover a platter with watercress.
Layer thinly sliced tomatoes over the watercress.
Add asparagus tips on top of the tomatoes.
Drizzle lightly with Hygia dressing and serve.

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.

Watercress + asparagustop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together35 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Tomato + asparagustop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together313 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Watercress + tomatotop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together158 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).