Baked Asparagus

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.

1. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together27,232 recipes

   Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

3. Asparagus + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together936 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

4. Asparagus + breadtop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together363 recipes

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

5. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together22,662 recipes

   Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus

Is the vegetable being cooked, so its drained, dried surface is what the coating sticks to.

Flour

Thin dusting that helps the beaten egg adhere to the asparagus.

Beaten egg

Binds the bread crumbs to the asparagus so the coating holds during frying.

Bread crumbs

Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

Butter

Adds richness and flavour and promotes browning in the frying fat.

Lard

Raises the frying fat's heat tolerance and adds crispness to the coating.

The step that matters

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, flour, egg, bread, butter):

1. Capersfits better
2. Nutmegfits better
3. Tarragonfits better
4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, flour, egg, bread, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.