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Asparagus Lea Pes

A baked dish of boiled asparagus mixed with a milk and egg custard, stuffed into stale rolls and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Asparagus Lea Pes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Cut up the tender asparagus and boil it until tender, then drain.

  2. Cut the tops off the stale rolls and scrape out the insides.

  3. Place the rolls in the oven at 400°F (200°C) to crisp without the tops.

Make the filling

  1. In a saucepan, heat the milk until boiling.

  2. Stir in 4 beaten eggs into the boiling milk until it thickens.

  3. Add a little butter, pepper, and coarse sea salt, then mix in the asparagus.

  4. Remove from heat immediately after adding the asparagus.

Fill and serve

  1. Fill the rolls with the mixture and replace the tops accurately.

  2. Return the filled rolls to the oven for a few minutes.

  3. Arrange the rolls on a dish and serve hot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Asparagus + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Coagulate in the hot milk, thickening the filling into a set custard.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the filling, which the eggs thicken into a creamy texture.
Stale rolls
Act as edible containers that crisp in the oven while holding the filling.
Tender asparagus
Provides the main vegetable flavour and tender texture within the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing flavour and a smoother mouthfeel to the filling.

The step that matters

Remove from heat immediately after adding the asparagus. Egg proteins keep setting with residual heat, so overcooking can make the custard grainy or curdled. Pulling the pan off heat promptly keeps it smooth.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, 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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