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Asparagus Tops, with Mutton Gravy

A dish of asparagus tops simmered in mutton gravy, seasoned with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and finished with parsley and chives.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and chive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 165 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Asparagus Tops, with Mutton Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Cut asparagus tops into 1-inch pieces.

  2. Parboil asparagus for 5 minutes, then drain.

Cook

  1. In a saucepan, melt butter and add asparagus.

  2. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  3. Add mutton gravy and cook on a brisk fire.

  4. Before serving, stir in chopped parsley and chives.

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.

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 + chivetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Nutmeg + chivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together300 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus tops
Form the main body of the dish, providing the vegetable bulk and tender texture.
Mutton gravy
Supplies the liquid and savory meaty flavor that coats and seasons the asparagus.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor and giving the asparagus a smooth finish.

The step that matters

Parboil asparagus for 5 minutes, then drain. Parboiling partly softens the asparagus so it finishes cooking gently in the gravy. Overcooking leaves it mushy, while draining well keeps excess water from thinning the gravy.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, butter, pepper, mutton, parsley, chive):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, butter, pepper, mutton, parsley, chive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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