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Asparagus Pudding

A baked asparagus pudding made with boiled asparagus, ham, eggs, flour, butter, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Cut the asparagus tips into 1‑inch lengths and boil until tender but not fully cooked.

  2. Remove and drain the asparagus.

Make the batter

  1. Once cool, mix in the ham, butter, pepper, salt, and flour.

  2. Moisten the mixture with enough milk to create a thick batter.

Cook and serve

  1. Transfer the batter to a buttered mold and cover lightly with a floured cloth.

  2. Place the mold in a kettle of boiling water and boil for 2 hours.

  3. Turn out the pudding from the mold and pour melted butter over it.

  4. 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. Butter + milktop 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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Asparagus + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together936 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs
Not listed in the method, so their role is unclear and left out.
Flour
Thickens the batter and gives the pudding body and structure as it cooks.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the pudding and to the melted butter poured over it.
Asparagus tips
Provide the main vegetable flavor and tender texture within the pudding.
Milk
Moistens the mixture into a thick batter and adds moisture to the pudding.

The step that matters

Moisten the mixture with enough milk to create a thick batter.. Too much milk makes the batter loose and the pudding may not hold its shape, while too little leaves it dry. Flour thickens the liquid so the batter sets firm when steamed.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, pepper, ham, flour, milk. 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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