Boiled Asparagus
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scrape the white part of the asparagus stems, starting from the head, and place them in cold water.
Tie the asparagus into bundles of about 20, keeping the heads aligned and cutting the stalks to the same length.
Cook and serve
Bring the salted water to a boil and add the asparagus bundles.
Boil uncovered until the asparagus is tender.
Serve the asparagus on toast dipped in the cooking water, with the white ends facing out and the points meeting in the center.
Accompany with a tureen of melted butter.
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
What each ingredient does
- Asparagus
- Is the main vegetable, cooked until tender while its stalks stay firm enough to hold together.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the boiling water so the asparagus is flavoured as it cooks.
The step that matters
Boil uncovered until the asparagus is tender. Overcooking turns asparagus soft and dull in colour, while undercooking leaves the stalks fibrous. Watching for tenderness rather than a fixed time gives the best texture, since thickness varies between spears.
“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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