Why it works: Asparagus and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 566 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Asparagus Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the asparagus
Boil the asparagus in salted water until tender, being careful not to break the tips.
Drain the asparagus and let it cool.
Dress and serve
Pour mayonnaise dressing over the cooled asparagus and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Serve three or four stems on a plate with extra mayonnaise dressing on the side.
Eat the asparagus with your fingers, dipping the stems in the dressing.
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 + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together566 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Asparagus
- Forms the main body of the salad and carries the dressing.
- Mayonnaise dressing
- Adds fat and richness, coating the cooked asparagus with creamy flavour.
The step that matters
Boil the asparagus until tender without breaking the tips. Overcooking softens the spears too much, while the delicate tips cook faster than the stems and can break or turn mushy. Cooking until just tender keeps the texture firm and pleasant.
“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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