Why it works: Nutmeg and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 13,015 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Asperges En Petits-pois
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the asparagus
Cut the tender parts of the asparagus into pieces about 1 inch long and soak them in cold water.
In a saucepan, bring 2 quarts of boiling water to a boil and add ½ ounce of coarse sea salt.
Drain the asparagus and add it to the boiling water.
Cook and finish
Boil rapidly until tender, about 10 minutes.
Drain thoroughly and return the asparagus to the heat with the butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg, sugar, and Cream Sauce.
Stir carefully to avoid breaking the asparagus.
Serve
Serve hot on neatly trimmed rounds of thin, buttered toast.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Asparagus + peppertop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,968 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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 dish and gives it its tender, vegetable texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the asparagus.
- Cream sauce
- Adds moisture and a creamy coating that binds the asparagus together.
- Sugar
- Adds a touch of sweetness that balances the savoury flavours.
The step that matters
Boil rapidly until tender. Asparagus cooks quickly, so overcooking turns it soft and dull in colour, while undercooking leaves it fibrous. Watching for tenderness at about 10 minutes in rapidly boiling water keeps the spears firm yet tender.
Flavor stand-ins for the asparagus
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sauce, sugar, butter, nutmeg, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Spinachbetter flavor fit
- Mustardbetter flavor fit
- Asparagusthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sauce, sugar, butter, nutmeg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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