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Asparagus Soup

A savory soup made with veal broth, asparagus, flour, butter, milk or cream, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Asparagus Soup

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. In a pot, heat the veal broth with the onion.

  2. In another pot, boil several heads of asparagus until very tender.

  3. Cut off the ends of the asparagus, then press the tender stems through a sieve into the soup.

  4. In a bowl, mix the flour and butter until smooth, then stir this mixture into the soup.

Season and serve

  1. Season the soup with salt, cayenne pepper, milk or cream, and sugar.

  2. Add the tender asparagus heads to the soup 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Onion + asparagustop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,212 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 broth
Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries its savory flavor.
Asparagus
Provides the main vegetable flavor and, once pureed, body to the soup.
Flour
Thickens the soup by swelling in hot liquid as its starch sets.
Butter
Adds richness and smooth mouthfeel to the thickened soup.
Milk or cream
Adds creaminess and softens the flavor of the soup.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour and butter into the soup. Flour mixed smoothly with butter, then whisked into hot liquid, thickens evenly. If it is added as lumps or not fully blended, it clumps and the soup stays uneven in texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, asparagus, flour, egg, butter, pepper, milk):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, asparagus, flour, egg, butter, pepper, milk. 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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