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Asparagus Salad

A salad of boiled asparagus mixed with mayonnaise, served on lettuce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Asparagus Salad

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

Prepare

  1. Wash the asparagus thoroughly to remove sand.

  2. Cut the tips to about 1 inch in length. If tender, include a short portion of the stalk, cut into equal pieces.

  3. Simmer the prepared tips in salted water for 10 to 15 minutes, until barely tender.

  4. Drain and chill the asparagus.

Assemble and serve

  1. Mix the chilled asparagus lightly with the mayonnaise.

  2. Serve on crisp lettuce leaves.

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.

  1. Asparagus + lettucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked 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 tips
Provide the main vegetable body and a tender, slightly crisp bite once simmered.
Mayonnaise
Adds fat and creaminess, binding the asparagus into a rich, coating dressing.

The step that matters

Simmer until barely tender. Asparagus turns soft and drab if overcooked, and chilling after cooking helps stop the cooking so the tips stay firm and bright green.

“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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