Why it works: Asparagus and cream work together. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 838 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Asparagus Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the asparagus
Boil the asparagus in 1 quart of water with 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt for 20 minutes.
Drain the asparagus in a colander.
Dress and serve
Once cold, cut off the tender points and arrange them on a dish.
Pour cream salad dressing over the 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.
-
Asparagus + creamtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together838 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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, providing the tender vegetable texture.
- Cream salad dressing
- Adds moisture, richness and creaminess that coat the asparagus.
The step that matters
Boil the asparagus for 20 minutes. Asparagus cooks quickly, and boiling it too long softens the stalks and dulls their bright green color. Cooling the spears once drained helps stop the cooking.
“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.
More asparagus salad recipes
You might also like
Asparagus Soup179 recipes
Cream of Asparagus38 recipes
Boiled Asparagus27 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.