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Asparagus Soup

A soup made with asparagus, cream, white stock, cornflour, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Asparagus Soup

Why it works: Asparagus and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,968 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the stalks

  1. Boil the white stock.

  2. Cut off the heads of the asparagus.

  3. Add the remaining stalks to the stock.

  4. Cook until tender.

  5. Rub through a sieve.

Thicken and finish

  1. Mix the cornflour with a little cold milk.

  2. Add the mixture to the soup.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

  4. Bring to a boil.

  5. Add the asparagus heads.

  6. Simmer for 10 minutes.

  7. Stir in the cream.

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. Asparagus + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 recipes

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

  2. Asparagus + creamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together838 recipes

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

  3. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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 green colour of the soup.
White stock
Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour of the soup.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture through its fat.
Cornflour
Thickens the soup as its starch swells when heated in the liquid.

The step that matters

Add the cornflour mixture to the soup. Cornflour only thickens when the starch is heated in the liquid, so the soup must come to a boil after it is added. Stirring while adding helps prevent lumps and removes the raw starch taste.

Swap the asparagus

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, pepper):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, pepper. 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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