Name: Asparagus
Ingredients: Asparagus; Bread; Butter; Orange

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Asparagus

Ingredients

Asparagus
Bread
Butter
Orange

Directions

Trim the white ends of the asparagus about 6 inches from the head and scrape the ends downwards.
Soak the asparagus in clean water and tie them in small bundles.
Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the asparagus, boiling quickly to avoid overcooking.
Toast a slice of bread until brown on both sides.
Carefully remove the asparagus and dip the toast in the asparagus water.
Arrange the asparagus heads on the toast with the white ends outwards.
Pour melted butter over the asparagus and garnish with orange quarters.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Asparagus + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together363 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Asparagus + orangetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together94 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Asparagus + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,026 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Bread + orangetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,084 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).