Why it works: Asparagus and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 313 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Asparagus Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Cut off the tender tips of the asparagus.
Add the lettuce and special mayonnaise.
Season with paprika and coarse sea salt.
If desired, add the juice of half a lemon.
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.
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Asparagus + lettucetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together313 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Asparagus + lemontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together704 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lettuce + lemontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,559 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tender tips of asparagus
- Provide the main vegetable body and fresh, tender bite in the salad.
- Lettuce
- Adds crisp texture and bulk, forming the base of the salad.
- Special mayonnaise
- Adds fat and creaminess, coating the vegetables with rich moisture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the creamy mayonnaise and balances its richness.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, lettuce):
- Avocadofits better
- Limefits better
- Lemonthe original
- Cherryfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, lettuce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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