Name: Asparagus Luncheon Salad
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked asparagus; 2 hard-cooked eggs, diced; 2 cups shredded lettuce; ¾ teaspoon vinegar; 1 tablespoon olive oil; Boiled salad dressing

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 Luncheon Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the salad

Mix the asparagus and shredded lettuce with the olive oil and vinegar.
Add boiled dressing to moisten thoroughly.

Chill and serve

Chill the mixture and arrange it in nests of salad greens.
Garnish with the diced hard-cooked eggs and additional dressing.

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.

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.

Asparagus + lettucetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together313 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + olivetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,580 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Asparagus + olivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,096 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,370 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked asparagus: Forms the main body of the salad and supplies its tender texture.
Shredded lettuce: Adds crisp texture and bulk, and holds the dressing.
Olive oil: Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor through the dressing.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the oil.
Boiled salad dressing: Moistens the salad and adds creamy sweetness and tang.