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Asparagus Soup

A soup made with veal, asparagus, water, milk, flour, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Asparagus Soup

Why it works: Veal and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,930 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil veal and half of the asparagus in 3 quarts of water for 3 hours.

  2. Leave the remaining asparagus in water until 20 minutes before serving.

  3. Add the remaining asparagus to the pot and boil for a few minutes.

  4. Stir in 1 pint of milk and thicken with a little flour.

  5. Season to taste 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  2. Pork + asparagustop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together381 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Veal
Long simmering breaks down connective tissue, giving the broth body and savory flavor.
Asparagus
Adds its vegetable flavor and color to the broth, and tender pieces give texture to the soup.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, softening the broth's flavor.
Flour
Thickens the liquid as it heats, giving the soup a smoother, heavier texture.

The step that matters

Adding the remaining asparagus at the end. Asparagus turns dull and mushy with long cooking. Adding the last batch only a few minutes before serving keeps its color, flavor, and texture bright.

Swap the asparagus

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pork, milk, flour):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, milk, flour. 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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