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Asparagus-peas, a LA Creme

A creamy asparagus and peas dish flavored with butter, sugar, nutmeg, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and peas match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 808 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Asparagus-peas, a LA Creme

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Boil the asparagus-peas in plenty of water with salt until done.

  2. Drain the asparagus-peas in a colander.

  3. Immerse the drained asparagus-peas in cold water for 3 minutes.

  4. Drain the asparagus-peas again on a sieve.

Cook and finish

  1. In a stewpan, combine the asparagus-peas with green onions, parsley, butter, sugar, nutmeg, and salt.

  2. Cover the mixture and simmer gently over low heat for 10 minutes.

  3. Remove the parsley faggot from the mixture.

  4. Boil down any excess liquid quickly.

  5. Incorporate 2 small pats of fresh butter and a mixture of egg yolks and cream into the mixture.

  6. Toss the mixture over low heat to set it.

  7. Shape the set mixture into a dome and 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 + peastop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together808 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Asparagus + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together252 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus-peas
Forms the bulk of the dish and carries most of its flavour.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture as they gently set with heat, giving it body.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the yolks set smoothly.
Sugar
Adds mild sweetness that balances the vegetables.

The step that matters

Toss the mixture over low heat to set it. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat but curdle and turn grainy if the mixture gets too hot. Keeping the heat low lets the yolks and cream set into a smooth, creamy coating around the vegetables.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (asparagus, butter, sugar, nutmeg, egg, cream):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Pistachiofits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, butter, sugar, nutmeg, egg, 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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