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Asparagus Pudding

A savory pudding made with asparagus, beans, tomatoes, pork, and a buttered custard base.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 292 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Boil the green tops of 2 bunches asparagus until tender; cut into small pieces.

  2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan.

  3. Add 4 well beaten eggs, pepper, salt to taste, and 1 cup milk; beat all together, adding 4 tablespoons flour very gradually. Cook until smooth.

  4. Add the asparagus, turn into a buttered mould, cover, and place in a kettle of boiling water. Boil for 2 hours.

Serve

  1. Serve in a pudding dish with a cup of drawn butter poured around it.

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. See the original page.

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. Asparagus + beanstop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together292 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Tomato + beanstop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,711 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Butter + milktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Beans + mustardtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together852 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Asparagus + mustardtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together213 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

Eggs
Set when cooked, giving the pudding its firm, custard-like structure.
Flour
Thickens the egg and milk mixture so it holds its shape when cooked.
Milk
Provides liquid that cooks with the eggs into a smooth, tender custard.
Asparagus
Supplies the main vegetable flavour and body of the pudding.

The step that matters

Adding the flour gradually. Flour added all at once forms lumps that do not smooth out. Adding it slowly while beating keeps the mixture smooth before it is cooked.

Flavor stand-ins for the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, butter, milk, flour, sugar, tomato, beans):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Sweet potatobetter flavor fit
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, butter, milk, flour, sugar, tomato, beans. 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).

“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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