Name: Asparagus Soup
Ingredients: 2 quarts veal broth; 1 onion; several heads of asparagus

Why it works: Onion and asparagus match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,212 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

2 quarts veal broth
1 onion
several heads of asparagus

Directions

Flavor the veal broth with the onion.
In another pot, boil the asparagus heads.
Cut off the ends of the asparagus.
Add the boiled asparagus to the veal broth and simmer.

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.

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.

Onion + asparagustop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,212 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Veal + asparagustop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together300 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal broth: Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries its flavor.
Asparagus: Main vegetable, supplying the green flavor and the body of the soup.
Onion: Flavors the broth as it cooks, adding a savory aroma.