Name: Asparagus Soup, Clear
Ingredients: 1 quart asparagus peas; 2 quarts good stock; 1 pint good stock; 1 lump sugar

Why it works: Asparagus and peas match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 808 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Asparagus Soup, Clear

Ingredients

1 quart asparagus peas
2 quarts good stock
1 pint good stock
1 lump sugar

Directions

Boil the asparagus peas in 2 quarts of stock until tender.
Add 1 pint more of stock and a lump of sugar.
Serve hot.

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 + peastop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together808 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Asparagus + sugartop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together488 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Peas + sugartop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,928 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus peas: Form the body of the soup and give it its main vegetable flavour when boiled soft.
Good stock: Serves as the liquid base that carries the flavour of the whole soup.
Lump sugar: Adds a little sweetness to round out the flavour of the stock.