Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓
Asparagus Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Scrape and wash the asparagus.
Boil the asparagus in salted water until soft.
Drain the water and add pepper, salt, and cider vinegar.
Cool the asparagus.
Arrange the asparagus with the heads in the center of the dish.
Mix the vinegar with olive oil or melted butter and pour 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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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Asparagus + olivetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,096 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Asparagus + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,968 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,297 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the asparagus
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cider, vinegar, olive):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Asparagusthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cider, vinegar, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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