Why it works: Asparagus and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 313 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Asparagus Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the asparagus
Trim the asparagus neatly and tie them in three bunches.
Stand the bunches in a kettle of boiling salted water, cover, and cook until tender.
Drain the asparagus and let it cool.
Assemble and dress
Arrange the cooled asparagus on lettuce leaves, allowing seven pieces per plate if they are about three inches long.
Drizzle French dressing over the arranged asparagus.
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.
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Asparagus + lettucetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together313 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 salad and provides its tender, delicate texture when cooked.
- French dressing
- Adds moisture and a tangy, slightly sweet flavour that balances the cooked asparagus.
The step that matters
Cook the asparagus until tender. Asparagus cooked in boiling water goes from crisp to limp within minutes. Stopping at the right point keeps it tender yet firm, and cooling it after draining halts further cooking so it stays bright green and holds its shape on the plate.
“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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