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Asparagus Points, or Tips

A simple dish of boiled asparagus tips sautéed in butter and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 Points, or Tips

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the points and tender green parts of the asparagus into short pieces.

Cook

  1. Place them in slightly salted boiling water and cook gently for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on size and age.

  2. Drain well and transfer the asparagus to a pan with oiled butter.

  3. Sprinkle with pepper and toss over the heat for a few minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve as a garnish or vegetable.

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

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

  2. Asparagus + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Green asparagus
Provides the main vegetable body and fresh, grassy flavor of the dish.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, coating the asparagus and carrying flavor when tossed in the pan.

The step that matters

Cooking the asparagus in boiling water. Asparagus cooks quickly, and overcooking breaks down its cell walls, leaving it soft and mushy. Thickness and freshness change the time, so check for tenderness early within the 5 to 10 minute range.

Swap the asparagus

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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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