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Asparagus a LA Creme

Creamy asparagus served on buttered toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 a LA Creme

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the asparagus and vegetables

  1. Boil the asparagus in salted water for 10 minutes, then strain.

  2. Combine the asparagus, lettuce, onion, milk, and herbs in a saucepan.

  3. Cook the mixture for 20 minutes.

  4. Remove the asparagus from the saucepan.

  5. Rub the remaining mixture through a sieve.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Stir in the flour.

  3. Add the strained mixture, cream, pepper, salt, and egg yolks to the saucepan.

  4. Cook for a few minutes without boiling.

Serve

  1. Serve the asparagus on buttered toast and pour the sauce over it.

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 + lettucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together313 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,562 recipes

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

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Asparagus + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,212 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
Forms the main body of the dish and gives its flavour and character.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding body and mild sweetness.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and with the flour forms the base that thickens the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk mixture into a smooth, creamy sauce.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the sauce as they set gently with heat.
Cream
Adds fat and smoothness, giving the sauce a richer texture.

The step that matters

Cook the sauce without boiling. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat but curdle if boiled, so the sauce should be kept just below a boil once they are added.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, milk, lettuce, butter, flour, cream, egg):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, milk, lettuce, butter, flour, cream, egg. 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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