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Poached Eggs with Asparagus

Poached eggs served over boiled asparagus, topped with melted butter, grated Parmesan, and a splash of vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Poached Eggs with Asparagus

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Boil the asparagus.

  2. Drain the asparagus well.

  3. Place the asparagus on a hot dish.

Poach the eggs

  1. In a shallow pan, bring water to a boil and add the vinegar.

  2. Break the eggs into cups.

  3. Carefully turn the eggs into the boiling water.

  4. Cook the eggs until they are set.

  5. Dress the poached eggs over the asparagus.

Finish and serve

  1. Melt the butter.

  2. Pour the melted butter around the dish.

  3. Grate the Parmesan cheese.

  4. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the eggs before serving.

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. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Asparagus + parmesan cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  3. Egg + asparagustop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

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

  4. Egg + buttertop 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 into soft, tender portions when poached, forming the main body of the dish.
Asparagus
Provides a tender, green vegetable base that holds the poached eggs.
Parmesan cheese
Adds salty, savory flavor and browns lightly when sprinkled over warm eggs.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth fat that carries flavor across the dish.

The step that matters

Carefully turn the eggs into the boiling water. Eggs dropped into water that is too rough or too cold can spread and lose their shape. Gentle handling keeps the whites around the yolks, so each egg sets as a neat portion.

“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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