Name: To Boil Asparagus
Ingredients: Asparagus; Bread; Butter

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 ↓

To Boil Asparagus

Ingredients

Asparagus
Bread
Butter

Directions

Cut the white stalks of asparagus about six inches from the heads.
Soak the asparagus in cold water, then tie them in small bundles.
Boil the asparagus in rapidly boiling water until tender, being careful not to overcook.
Toast a slice of bread until very brown on both sides.
Once the asparagus is done, carefully remove it and dip the toast quickly in the boiling water.
Place the asparagus on the toast with the white ends facing outwards.
Pour melted butter over the toast and the green parts of the asparagus.

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 + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,026 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).