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Asparagus in Pyramid

A decorative arrangement of asparagus in a pyramid shape, served with sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and milk work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 650 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Asparagus in Pyramid

Ingredients

Directions

Make the border

  1. Make a band of stiff noodle paste, 3 inches wide, to fit inside a fancy plate.

  2. Form the paste around a can or jar and stick the ends together with the beaten egg yolk.

  3. Cut decorative shapes from the paste and attach the shapes to the border.

  4. Wash the border with egg yolk and milk.

  5. Let the border dry and firm up.

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Select large asparagus shoots and tie the shoots in small bunches.

  2. Cut the shoots to 4 inches long from the tips.

  3. Boil the asparagus.

Build and serve

  1. Arrange the bottom tier inside the border, leaning the tips toward the center.

  2. Build 3 or 4 tiers, each smaller than the last, to create a pyramid shape, holding a folded napkin around the pyramid while building.

  3. Press the pyramid slightly toward the center.

  4. If serving hot, place the pyramid in the oven for a few seconds.

  5. Serve the pyramid with sauce.

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 + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together650 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Egg + asparagustop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

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

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Asparagus + saucetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together573 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Milk + saucetop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Stiff noodle paste
Forms the sturdy edible border that holds the asparagus pyramid upright.
Large green asparagus shoots
Form the main tiers of the pyramid and give it its fresh, vegetable flavour.
Beaten egg yolk
Acts as an edible glue that seals the paste and gives the border a golden colour when brushed on.

The step that matters

Let the border dry and firm up. A damp or soft noodle paste border can sag or crack under the weight of the asparagus. Letting it dry fully gives the paste the rigidity it needs to hold the tiers in shape.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, sauce. 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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