Butter, Etc
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scrape and wash the asparagus in cold water.
Cut the asparagus to the same length.
Tie them in bundles of twenty.
Cook
Put the bundles upright in a pot of boiling water.
Boil until tender, about 20 minutes, ensuring the water does not cover the tips.
Steam the tips to prevent overcooking while the stalks become tender.
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
What each ingredient does
- Asparagus spears
- The main ingredient, whose stalks soften through cooking while the delicate tips stay tender.
The step that matters
Keep the tips above the water. The stalks are denser and need more time to become tender, while the delicate tips cook fastest. Keeping the tips out of the boiling water lets them steam gently, so they do not turn mushy while the stalks finish cooking.
“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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