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Puree d’Asperges.

A creamy asparagus and spinach puree made with stock, white sauce, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and spinach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 274 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

Puree d’Asperges.

Ingredients

Directions

Cook and strain

  1. Boil the asparagus in stock or water with the spinach until tender.

  2. Make the liquid up to 1 quart again.

  3. Pass the asparagus through a fine sieve.

Finish and serve

  1. Return to the saucepan and reheat.

  2. Add the white sauce and cream, then serve.

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 + spinachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together274 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Spinach + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Asparagus + saucetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together573 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Spinach + saucetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together756 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus
Forms the main body of the puree and gives its primary flavour.
Spinach
Adds colour and a deeper, earthy green flavour to the puree.
White sauce
Adds body and a smooth, thickened texture to the puree.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished puree.

The step that matters

Pass the asparagus through a fine sieve. Asparagus contains fibrous strands that stay tough and stringy unless removed. Pressing the cooked vegetables through a fine sieve breaks them down and separates the fibres, giving the smooth texture a puree needs.

Swap the asparagus

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Lettucefits about as well
  3. Beetrootfits about as well
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, sauce, cream. 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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