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Asparagus Tops, for Large Cold Garniture

A cold garnish of turnip rings filled with asparagus tops set in aspic jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and asparagus match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 328 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Asparagus Tops, for Large Cold Garniture

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the turnips

  1. Slice turnips into 3/8-inch thick rounds.

  2. Use a round cutter to cut out 2.5-inch diameter rings, removing the center to create a 1.25-inch diameter hole.

  3. Parboil the turnip rings for 2 minutes, then immerse them in cold water.

  4. Dry the rings on a napkin.

Assemble and set

  1. Fill each ring with cooked asparagus tops, cut to 2-2.5 inches long.

  2. Arrange the filled rings in a tin pan so they stand upright.

  3. Chill on ice until cold, then cover with aspic jelly.

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. Turnip + asparagustop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together328 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Turnips
Provide the firm, edible ring that holds the filling upright and gives the garniture its shape.
Asparagus tops
Supply the main filling, adding color and a tender, vegetal texture inside each ring.
Aspic jelly
Sets into a clear gel that coats and holds the garniture together while it chills.

The step that matters

Parboil the turnip rings for 2 minutes, then immerse them in cold water. Parboiling softens the turnip just enough to be tender yet still firm, and the cold shock stops further cooking and sets the bright color. Overcooking makes the rings soft and unable to stand upright.

“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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