Why it works: Asparagus and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,026 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Boiled Asparagus
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Tie asparagus heads in small bundles.
Cut the bundles to equal lengths.
Cook
Place the bundles in salted boiling water.
Boil until tender.
Cook for eighteen minutes.
Serve
Drain well.
Arrange on thin slices of toast.
Pour drawn butter sauce over the asparagus.
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 + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,026 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Asparagus
- Forms the dish, and its fibres soften to tender as it boils.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour through the drawn butter sauce.
The step that matters
Boil until tender. Asparagus cooks quickly, and overcooking breaks down its cell walls, leaving it soft, mushy and dull in colour. Check for tenderness early and drain as soon as it is done.
“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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