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Asparagus Soup

A creamy soup made with asparagus, stock, cream, butter, onions, flour, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Asparagus Soup

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the asparagus into small pieces.

  2. Add the asparagus to the stock.

  3. Boil for 18 minutes.

Make the roux

  1. Cook the butter and onions in a frying pan for 5 minutes.

  2. Add the flour to the butter and onions, stirring until smooth.

  3. Stir in the salt and pepper.

Finish the soup

  1. Simmer for 15 minutes.

  2. Rub the mixture through a sieve.

  3. Return it to the stew pan.

  4. Heat the cream.

  5. Add the cream to the soup.

  6. Bring to a boil.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Asparagus + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,212 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus
Provides the main flavour and body of the soup once puréed and sieved.
Butter
Carries the onion flavour and, with flour, forms the base that thickens the soup.
Flour
Thickens the soup when cooked in butter, giving it a smooth, body-rich texture.
Cream or milk
Adds richness and a smooth, mellow texture to the finished soup.
White stock
Forms the liquid base that cooks the asparagus and carries its flavour.

The step that matters

Add the flour to the butter and onions, stirring until smooth. Flour must be stirred into the hot butter so it cooks evenly without lumps; if it is added to liquid unevenly or left raw, the soup can turn lumpy and taste floury.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, cream, butter, flour, 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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