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Asparagus

A dish of boiled asparagus mixed with beaten eggs, buttered, and served on toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Boil young asparagus for 15 to 18 minutes until tender.

  2. Cut the boiled asparagus into pieces like peas.

Make the egg mixture

  1. Beat 4 eggs in a bowl.

  2. Season the eggs with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  3. Add the asparagus to the eggs.

  4. Stir gently.

  5. Melt 2 ounces of butter in a saucepan.

  6. Stir the mixture until thick.

Serve

  1. Serve the mixture on toast.

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

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

  2. Asparagus + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

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

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Asparagus + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set and thicken as they are stirred, binding the asparagus into a creamy mixture.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the eggs.
Young asparagus
Provides the green vegetable body and a tender, slightly grassy bite.

The step that matters

Stir the mixture until thick. Eggs set with heat, and overcooking them makes them curdle and dry, so stir steadily and remove them while still soft and creamy.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

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