Name: Asparagus, Peas, and Green Peas
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons plain boiled asparagus, cut up; ½ ounce butter; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon sugar

Why it works: Asparagus and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,968 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Asparagus, Peas, and Green Peas

Ingredients

Directions

In a saucepan, combine the asparagus, butter, salt, pepper, and sugar.
Warm the mixture over low heat, stirring continuously.
Once warm, place it in the center of the omelette, fold over, 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.

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 + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,968 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Asparagus + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,026 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Asparagus + sugartop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together488 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus: Provides the main vegetable bulk and fresh, green flavour of the filling.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a smooth, moist texture in the filling.

The step that matters

Warm the mixture over low heat, stirring continuously. Butter can brown, scorch, or separate when heated too quickly. Gentle heat with constant stirring warms the filling evenly and keeps the butter smooth.

Swap the asparagus

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, sugar):

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits about as well
Sweet potatofits about as well
Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, sugar. 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.

Asparagus Soup179 recipes

Asparagus Salad77 recipes

Cream of Asparagus38 recipes

Boiled Asparagus27 recipes

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Asparagus, Peas, and Green Peas