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Asparagus Soup

A creamy soup made from boiled asparagus, onion, flour, butter, egg yolk, cream, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Asparagus Soup

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Boil the asparagus and onion in enough water to cover them until tender.

  2. Remove the asparagus and onion, saving the water.

  3. Cut the tender part of the asparagus into small pieces.

  4. Pound the pieces in a mortar with a little of the reserved water until smooth.

Make the soup

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter.

  2. Mix in the flour and sugar, stirring constantly.

  3. Add the melted mixture to the pounded asparagus and the remaining water.

  4. Bring to a boil for a few minutes.

  5. Mix the egg yolk with the cream.

  6. Add the mixture to the soup, stirring well.

  7. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste.

Garnish and serve

  1. Slice the reserved stalk of asparagus thinly.

  2. Add the sliced stalk to the soup before serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Asparagus + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,212 recipes

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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 main body and flavour of the soup once pounded smooth.
Butter
Melted with flour to make a roux that thickens the soup.
Flour
Thickens the soup when cooked with the melted butter.
Egg yolk
Enriches the soup and thickens it gently when stirred in with cream.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the soup.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk and cream. Egg yolk can curdle or scramble if the soup is too hot when it goes in. Stir the yolk and cream well and add them gradually, keeping the soup below a boil, so it thickens smoothly.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, flour, egg, cream, butter, sugar, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, flour, egg, cream, butter, sugar, pepper. 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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