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Stewed Asparagus

A simple boiled asparagus dish seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Stewed Asparagus

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the asparagus well in cold water.

  2. Cut the asparagus into pieces one inch long.

Cook

  1. Cover with boiling water and boil for 30 minutes in a covered vessel.

  2. Drain in a colander and place in a saucepan.

  3. Add salt, pepper, and a little water.

Finish and serve

  1. Let it come to a boil once, then serve.

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 + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 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 whole dish; long simmering softens its fibrous stalks until tender.

The step that matters

Boiling for 30 minutes. Asparagus cooked this long turns soft and can lose its shape and bright color. Keeping the pot covered and checking tenderness early helps prevent overcooking.

“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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