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Scalloped Asparagus

A baked dish of asparagus, eggs, cheese, and a creamy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scalloped Asparagus

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Wash the asparagus and cut off the hard, woody parts of the stalks.

  2. Cut the tender parts into 1-inch lengths and parboil in hot, salted water for 10 minutes.

  3. Drain and layer the asparagus in a buttered baking dish.

Make the sauce and layer

  1. Scatter minced hard-boiled eggs over the asparagus and season with salt, pepper, and bits of butter.

  2. Repeat layering until all ingredients are used.

  3. Make a roux with 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour, then thin with 1 cup of hot milk.

  4. Cook for 1 minute, season with paprika, and pour over the asparagus.

Bake and serve

  1. Top with a final layer of asparagus, sprinkle with fine bread crumbs, and add bits of butter and grated cheese.

  2. Bake covered at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes, then uncover and brown slightly.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  3. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Asparagus
Forms the bulk of the dish and gives its tender, vegetable texture.
Hard-boiled eggs
Adds soft, rich body and mild flavor between the asparagus layers.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and helps the top brown during baking.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth sauce as a roux.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce that moistens the dish.
Grated cheese
Melts into the top layer and adds savory flavor and browning.

The step that matters

Thinning the roux with hot milk. Adding the milk to a roux while it is cooked and smooth helps prevent lumps. Cooking the mixture briefly removes raw flour taste and lets the sauce thicken evenly.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

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