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Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce I

A dish of boiled asparagus served with a butter and egg yolk Hollandaise sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,968 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce I

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Wash fresh asparagus and cut off tough ends.

  2. Tie asparagus in bunches to stand upright in boiling water.

  3. Boil asparagus, keeping tips out of the water.

  4. Remove asparagus when tender and drain, keeping it hot until served.

  5. Drain canned asparagus.

  6. Cover with boiling water.

  7. Drain again and serve hot.

Make the hollandaise

  1. Combine half the butter, lemon juice, and egg yolks in a saucepan over hot water.

  2. Stir constantly.

  3. Gradually add the remaining butter as the sauce thickens.

  4. Keep the water hot but not boiling.

  5. Once thick, remove the sauce from heat.

  6. Stir in salt and cayenne.

  7. Serve immediately.

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 + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  3. Asparagus + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Asparagus + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsify the butter and thicken the sauce as they gently cook.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that gives the sauce a smooth, silky body.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that balances the richness and helps stabilise the emulsion.

The step that matters

Keep the water hot but not boiling. Egg yolks scramble when overheated, and the sauce turns grainy or curdled. Gentle, steady heat lets the yolks thicken slowly while butter emulsifies smoothly into them.

Swap the asparagus

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, vinegar, pepper. 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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