Name: Pointes D'asperges a L'imperiale — Asparagus Tips
Ingredients: asparagus tips; salt; toast; Parmesan cheese; butter

Why it works: Parmesan cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Pointes D'asperges a L'imperiale — Asparagus Tips

Ingredients

Directions

Break the asparagus tips about 2.5 to 3 inches from the stem and tie them in small bunches.
Cook the asparagus in salted water until tender.
Drain the asparagus well and arrange on pieces of toast.
Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese over the asparagus.
Pour heated butter over the asparagus until it reaches a hazelnut color.

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.

Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,163 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Asparagus + parmesan cheesetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together301 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Asparagus + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,026 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).