Skip to main content
Main

Cream of Asparagus Soup

A creamy soup made from asparagus, broth, and cream, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Cream of Asparagus Soup

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 ↓

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Trim and chop the asparagus, reserving the tips for garnish.

  2. In a pot, bring the broth to a boil and add the chopped asparagus.

Make the soup

  1. Simmer until the asparagus is tender, about 15 minutes.

  2. Blend the mixture until smooth, then return to the pot.

  3. Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper.

  4. Heat gently before serving, garnishing with reserved asparagus tips.

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

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

  2. Asparagus + chickentop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  4. Asparagus + creamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together838 recipes

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

  5. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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 simmered and blended.
Vegetable or chicken broth
Cooks the asparagus and forms the liquid base of the soup.
Heavy cream
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and a silky mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Blend the mixture until smooth. Asparagus fibres stay stringy unless the cooked vegetable is blended thoroughly, so the soup needs enough blending time to reach a smooth texture.

Swap the asparagus

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cream, 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.

You might also like

Chicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesAsparagus SoupAsparagus Soup179 recipesChicken SoupChicken Soup156 recipesCreamed ChickenCreamed Chicken89 recipes