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Asparagus and Cashews

"I didn't think I liked asparagus until trying this recipe at a Christmas dinner. Now I cook it for any special occasion and everyone oooh's and aah's when I say it's on the menu."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sesame and asparagus share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 73 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep15 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: tree nuts, soy, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Cut the asparagus stalks into 2-inch (5 cm) pieces.

  2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped cashews and stir for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly golden. Transfer the cashews to a plate.

  3. Increase the heat to medium-high. Add the asparagus and minced ginger to the same skillet and stir-fry for 4 minutes until bright green and tender-crisp.

  4. Stir in the soy sauce and sesame oil and cook for 1 minute, tossing to coat the asparagus.

  5. Return the cashews to the skillet, toss everything together for 30 seconds, and serve warm.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Sesame + asparagustop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together73 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Sesame + gingertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,531 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Olive + sesametop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,540 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  4. Olive + asparagustop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,027 recipes

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

  5. Olive + gingertop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, sesame, asparagus, sauce):

  1. Garlicbetter flavor fit
  2. Gingerthe original
  3. Capersabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Corianderabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, sesame, asparagus, sauce. 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).