Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Asparagus Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the asparagus
Cut the tops from 1 bunch of asparagus.
Cook the tops in salted water for 20 minutes.
Cook the remaining asparagus in the quart of stock or water for 20 minutes.
Make the soup base
Slice the onion thinly.
Fry the sliced onion in butter for 10 minutes, being careful not to burn.
Add the boiled asparagus from the stock to the onion.
Cook the mixture for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Stir in the flour.
Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Transfer the mixture into the boiling stock.
Simmer gently for 20 minutes.
Rub the mixture through a sieve.
Finish and serve
Add the milk and cream, which should be just boiled.
Add the asparagus heads.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Asparagus + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,212 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Asparagus + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,968 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Provides the main flavour and, once puréed, the body of the soup.
- Butter
- Fat that softens the onion and carries flavour without browning it.
- Flour
- Cooked with the butter and onion, it thickens the soup as a roux.
- Onion
- Frying builds savoury aroma that forms the soup's base flavour.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, softening the soup's texture.
- Cream
- Adds richness and fat, giving the finished soup a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Fry the onion gently in butter. Butter burns at a lower temperature than oil, and scorched onion gives bitter, acrid flavours that carry into the whole soup. Keep the heat moderate and stir so the onion softens and turns golden rather than dark brown.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, milk, cream, butter, flour, pepper):
- Potatofits better
- Leekfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, milk, cream, butter, flour, 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.
You might also like
Asparagus Salad77 recipes
Cream of Asparagus38 recipes
Boiled Asparagus27 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.