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Cream of Asparagus

A velvety soup made from veal stock, asparagus, onions, celery, butter, flour, and hot milk, seasoned with salt and pepper.

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

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cream of Asparagus

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. In a pot, combine veal stock, onions, celery, and asparagus, then cook until tender.

  2. Remove the asparagus and strain the soup.

Thicken and finish

  1. In a separate bowl, mix butter and flour to create a roux.

  2. Add the roux to the strained soup to thicken.

  3. Chop the asparagus finely and add it back to the soup along with hot milk.

  4. Season with salt and pepper, 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.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Celery + asparagustop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together378 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Onion + asparagustop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,212 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

Butter
Melts with flour to form a roux that thickens the soup and adds richness.
Flour
Combines with butter to form a roux that thickens the soup as it is added.
Asparagus
Provides the main flavour and body of the soup once chopped and returned.
Veal stock
Forms the savoury liquid base the vegetables cook in.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Adding the roux to the strained soup. Flour needs to be cooked in the fat and then whisked into hot liquid to thicken smoothly. Adding it lumpy or to cold liquid can leave clumps that do not disperse.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, celery, asparagus, butter, flour, milk, 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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