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Asparagus Puree, for Garniture

A creamy asparagus puree used as a garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Asparagus Puree, for Garniture

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Break off the tender parts of the asparagus.

  2. Wash the asparagus in cold water.

  3. Drain the asparagus.

  4. Place the asparagus in a saucepan of boiling water with salt, parsley, and onions.

  5. Cook until tender.

  6. Drain the asparagus.

  7. Remove the parsley and onions.

Make the puree

  1. In a flat saucepan, combine the asparagus with butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and sugar.

  2. Add the cream sauce and bread crumbs soaked in milk and pressed dry.

  3. Cook for 10 minutes.

  4. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve.

  5. Return the puree to the saucepan.

  6. Reduce with cream to desired consistency.

  7. Add spinach color for a bright green hue if desired.

  8. Stir in a piece of butter until melted.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Asparagus + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together566 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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 puree once cooked and sieved.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the puree a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
Cream sauce
Adds body and richness, helping the puree thicken and feel creamy.
Bread crumbs
Soaked in milk and pressed dry, they add body and help thicken the puree.
Cream
Thins the puree to the desired consistency while adding richness.

The step that matters

Rub the mixture through a fine sieve. Pushing cooked asparagus through a fine sieve breaks down fibers and removes stringy bits, which is what gives the puree its smooth texture. Skipping or rushing this leaves a grainy result.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, parsley, butter, pepper, nutmeg, sugar, cream):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, parsley, butter, pepper, nutmeg, sugar, 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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