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Ambushed Asparagus

A baked dish of asparagus custard served in biscuit cups.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and biscuit share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Ambushed Asparagus

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus and biscuits

  1. Cut off the tender tips of the asparagus.

  2. Boil the asparagus in salted water until tender.

  3. Drain the asparagus and chop finely.

  4. Cut off the tops of the biscuits.

  5. Scoop out the biscuit insides.

  6. Place the biscuit tops in the oven to dry.

Make the custard

  1. Heat the milk while the biscuits are drying.

  2. Stir in the beaten eggs.

  3. Strain the milk-egg mixture.

  4. Return the strained mixture to the heat.

  5. When the mixture thickens, add butter, salt, pepper, and chopped asparagus.

  6. As the mixture begins to boil, remove it from the heat.

Assemble and serve

  1. Fill the biscuit shells with the mixture.

  2. Carefully fit the biscuit tops onto the filled shells.

  3. Place the assembled biscuits in the oven for 3 minutes.

  4. Arrange the biscuits on a dish.

  5. Serve the dish.

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 + biscuittop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together25 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

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

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

  4. Biscuit + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together841 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Asparagus + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together650 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the milk mixture into a thick, spoonable custard as they cook.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, which thickens as it heats.
Asparagus
Provides the main vegetable filling and its flavour to the custard.
Biscuits or rolls
Form the edible cups and lids that hold the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and a smoother, silkier texture to the custard.

The step that matters

Remove the custard from the heat as it begins to boil. Egg proteins set and curdle when overheated, so the mixture can turn grainy or watery if it boils or cooks too long.

Swap the asparagus

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

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Asparagusthe original
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, biscuit, milk, butter, 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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