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Asparagus Souffle

A baked dish of asparagus, eggs, and cream, lightly browned.

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 ↓

Asparagus Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Boil the asparagus until tender, then drain.

  2. Rub the asparagus through a sieve.

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the sieved asparagus, beaten eggs, cream, salt, and pepper.

  2. Beat the mixture well and pour it into a buttered baking dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until light and delicately browned.

  2. Serve immediately.

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).

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

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

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

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

  4. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Pepper and cream 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, once puréed, the body of the souffle base.
Eggs
Set during baking to give the souffle its structure and light, airy texture.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, producing a softer, more tender custard-like interior.

The step that matters

Serve immediately. A souffle rises from trapped air and steam in the baked eggs, but it deflates as it cools. Serving straight from the oven keeps it light and at its full height.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, egg, cream. 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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