Skip to main content
Main

Scalloped Asparagus

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

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 salted water for 10 minutes.

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

Layer and make the sauce

  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. In a saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter, then stir in 1 tablespoon of flour to make a roux.

  4. Thin the roux with 1 cup of hot milk and cook for 1 minute, seasoning with paprika.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the sauce over the asparagus, ensuring a layer of asparagus is on top.

  2. Sift breadcrumbs and grated cheese over the top, adding bits of butter.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes, covered, 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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 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

Asparagus
Forms the bulk of the dish and gives its tender, vegetal body.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add body and a soft, rich texture through the layers.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the roux and the dish's top layer.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth sauce as a roux.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce that binds and moistens the layers.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Thinning the roux with hot milk. Adding the hot milk to the roux all at once can produce lumps; whisking steadily while the sauce cooks gives it a smooth, thickened texture that binds the layers.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

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

You might also like

Asparagus SoupAsparagus Soup179 recipesMacaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesAsparagus SaladAsparagus Salad77 recipesCheese MakingCheese Making50 recipes