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Asparagus Pudding

A baked dish of asparagus, eggs, flour, ham, butter, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Asparagus Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the tender parts of the asparagus into pieces the size of peas.

Make the pudding

  1. In a bowl, combine the asparagus, beaten eggs, flour, ham, butter, pepper, and salt. Mix well and add enough milk to achieve a thick butter-like consistency.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a buttered 1-pint mold and cover tightly with a floured cloth.

  3. Place the mold in boiling water and cook for 2 hours.

Serve

  1. Turn the pudding out onto a hot dish and pour melted butter around it.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Asparagus + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together936 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs
Bind the mixture and set into a firm, sliceable pudding when cooked.
Flour
Thickens the mixture so it holds its shape rather than running apart.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, giving the pudding a tender texture.
Asparagus points
Provide the main vegetable body and flavor of the pudding.
Milk
Loosens the batter to the desired thick, spoonable consistency.

The step that matters

Cooking in boiling water. The mold must sit in gently but fully boiling water for the whole two hours, with the cloth tightly covering it. Water that drops too low cools the pudding and slows setting, while a loose cover lets water in and makes the pudding soggy.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, ham, butter, pepper, milk. 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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