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Asparagus, with Eggs

A dish of asparagus cooked with butter, cream, gravy, pepper, salt, and eggs, served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Asparagus, with Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the green part of the asparagus into pieces the size of peas.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a stewpan.

  2. Add the cream or milk, gravy, pepper, and salt to the melted butter.

  3. Beat the eggs well and stir them into the mixture.

Cook and serve

  1. Add the asparagus and stir quickly over the fire for half a minute until set.

  2. Pour the mixture onto a hot dish, garnish with toasted sippets, and serve hot.

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

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

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

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

  3. Asparagus + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Eggs
Set and thicken the mixture into a soft, creamy custard-like texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the mixture a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the eggs tender rather than dry.
Asparagus
Provides the main vegetable flavour and a tender-crisp bite when lightly cooked.

The step that matters

Stir the asparagus in over the fire for only half a minute. Eggs set quickly under heat and can curdle or turn grainy if overcooked. Stirring briskly for a short time sets the eggs into a soft, creamy texture while the asparagus stays tender-crisp.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, pepper, egg. 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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