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 ↓
Cream of Asparagus Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the asparagus
If using canned asparagus, open the can, turn it out onto a platter, and cut off tips about 2 inches long.
If using fresh asparagus, cook it in cold water, cut off the tips, and proceed as with canned.
Make the soup
Melt the butter in a large pot, add the flour, and stir until smooth.
Pour in the heated water and chicken stock, then add the asparagus (without tips), salt, and white pepper.
Cook for 30 minutes, then strain through a sieve, rubbing all that will go through.
Return the soup to the pot, add the cream and asparagus tips, and adjust thickness with more cream or milk if needed before serving.
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.
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Asparagus + chickentop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together539 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Asparagus + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together936 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 strained, the body of the soup.
- Butter
- Fat that carries flavour and, with the flour, forms the base for thickening.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup by swelling in the hot liquid as it cooks with the butter.
- Chicken stock
- Liquid base that gives the soup savoury depth.
- Heavy cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture at the end.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour into the butter until smooth. Flour lumps form if it is not fully mixed into the melted butter, and lumps are hard to remove later. Stirring keeps the starch dispersed so the liquid thickens evenly when it is added.
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, chicken, cream, butter, flour):
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, chicken, cream, butter, flour. 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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