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Asparagus Soup

A soup made with asparagus, peas, celery, onion, herbs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Asparagus Soup

Why it works: Spinach and asparagus match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 274 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pot, combine the broiled bone, peas, and enough water to cover.

  2. Add the celery, sweet herbs, onion, cayenne pepper, and salt.

  3. Boil briskly for 5 hours.

  4. Strain the mixture and pulp the solids.

  5. Stir in a little spinach juice and the boiled asparagus pieces.

  6. Add walnut soy and mushroom catsup for flavor.

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. Spinach + asparagustop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together274 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Peas + asparagustop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together808 recipes

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

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Celery + spinachtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together616 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  5. Walnut + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Peas
Provide the main body and thickness of the soup as they break down during boiling.
Asparagus
Adds the characteristic green vegetable flavor and pieces for texture in the finished soup.
Onion
Builds a savory aromatic base as it softens and flavors the long-simmered broth.
Mushroom catsup
Adds deep savory, umami flavor to the soup.

The step that matters

Boil briskly for 5 hours. A long, vigorous boil extracts flavor from the bone and vegetables and breaks down the peas, but the water level must be maintained so the pot does not boil dry and scorch.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, celery, onion, pepper, spinach, asparagus, mushroom):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Sesamefits better
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, celery, onion, pepper, spinach, asparagus, mushroom. 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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