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Asparagus Soup

A soup made from boiled asparagus, stock, salt, pepper, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Asparagus Soup

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 Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Cut away the hard parts of the asparagus.

  2. Boil the remaining asparagus until tender.

  3. Place half of the cooked asparagus in cold water.

  4. Press the other half through a sieve or fine colander.

  5. Cut the remaining asparagus into small pieces.

Make the soup

  1. Stir the pressed asparagus into the stock.

  2. Add salt, pepper, and sugar.

  3. Bring the soup to a boil.

  4. Add the small pieces to the soup.

  5. Let the soup boil briefly.

  6. Serve the soup.

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

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

  2. Asparagus + sugartop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together488 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + sugartop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

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

Pepper and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 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
Forms the main body and flavor of the soup; pressing it thickens the liquid and the pieces add texture.
Stock
Provides the liquid base that carries the asparagus flavor.
Sugar
Adds a touch of sweetness that balances the vegetal taste of the asparagus.

The step that matters

Pressing the asparagus through a sieve. Pushing the cooked asparagus through a fine sieve breaks down its fibers and releases starch and pulp, which give the soup its body. Skipping or rushing this step leaves the soup thin and stringy.

Swap the asparagus

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, sugar. 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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