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Asparagus Salad

A salad of boiled asparagus mixed with cream dressing, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Asparagus Salad

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 Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the asparagus

  1. Cook the asparagus in boiling salted water until tender.

  2. Once cold, cut off the tender parts.

Dress and serve

  1. Mix the asparagus with cream dressing, seasoned with pepper and salt.

  2. Alternatively, serve 6 stalks with 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise for each person.

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.

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.

  1. Asparagus + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Asparagus + creamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together838 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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
The main vegetable; cooking softens its fibres to a tender bite.
Cream dressing
Adds moisture and richness, coating the spears and softening their flavour.
Mayonnaise
Adds creamy fat and richness as an optional serving sauce.

The step that matters

Cook until just tender. Overcooked asparagus turns soft and dull because prolonged heat breaks down its cell walls and green pigments. Check for tenderness early and stop cooking once the spears give slightly when pierced.

Swap the asparagus

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cream. 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.

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