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Asparagus, Stewed

Stewed asparagus cooked with butter, green onions, parsley, sugar, and Tournee Sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 566 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Asparagus, Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Break the asparagus where it is tender and wash it.

  2. Put the asparagus into boiling water with salt to make it green.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. In a pan, melt the butter and add the green onions and parsley.

  2. Stir in the sugar and Tournee Sauce.

  3. Add the cooked asparagus and toss to coat.

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 + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together566 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Asparagus + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,212 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Green asparagus
Forms the main body of the dish, with its tender texture when cooked.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the pan mixture and helps coat the asparagus.
Tournee sauce
Provides the liquid and savory body that coats the cooked asparagus.
Sugar
Adds a touch of sweetness to balance the savory sauce.

The step that matters

Boiling the asparagus with salt. Asparagus cooked too long turns dull and soft, while brief boiling in salted water keeps its bright green colour and a tender bite.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, butter, onion, sugar, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, butter, onion, sugar, 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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