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Asparagus, Boiled

A simple boiled asparagus dish served on toast with sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Asparagus, Boiled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scrape the white part of the asparagus stems, starting from the head.

  2. Tie the asparagus into bundles of about 20, keeping the heads in one direction.

  3. Cut the stalks evenly and keep the asparagus in cold water until ready to cook.

Cook and serve

  1. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and add 1 heaped teaspoon of salt for each quart of water.

  2. Add the asparagus to the boiling water and cook gently for about 20 minutes, or until tender.

  3. Serve the asparagus on toast with Hollandaise sauce, white sauce, or oiled butter.

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus
Is the main vegetable; cooking softens its fibrous stalks until tender.
Toast
Provides a crisp base that holds the asparagus and absorbs its juices.

The step that matters

Cook gently until tender. Boiling vigorously or overcooking breaks down the stalks and turns the tips mushy, so simmer gently and test for tenderness at the stated time.

“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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