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Asparagus Soup

A soup made with asparagus, spinach, stock, milk, butter, flour, and cream, simmered and puréed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Asparagus Soup

Why it works: Asparagus and spinach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 274 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut off the tips of the asparagus and set aside.

  2. Trim the stalks and cut them into small pieces.

  3. Wash and pick the spinach.

Make the soup

  1. In a stewpan, bring the stock or water to a boil.

  2. Add the asparagus and spinach, and cook until tender, about 40 minutes.

  3. Rub through a fine sieve.

  4. Melt the butter in the stewpan, sprinkle in the flour, and stir in the milk until it boils.

  5. Add the stock and purée of asparagus and spinach, seasoning with salt and pepper.

  6. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil, add a little salt, and cook the asparagus tips for 10 to 15 minutes.

  2. Place the asparagus tips in a tureen, add the cream or milk, and adjust seasoning.

  3. Serve immediately.

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. Asparagus + spinachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together274 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Spinach + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus
Gives the soup its main flavour and, once puréed, its body.
Spinach
Adds colour and a mild earthy flavour to the purée.
Butter
Provides fat to carry flavour and enrich the soup.
Flour
Thickens the soup with the butter as a roux.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the soup's texture.

The step that matters

Rub through a fine sieve. Asparagus and spinach fibres stay coarse unless pressed through a fine sieve, so skipping or rushing this step leaves the soup gritty rather than smooth.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, spinach, butter, flour, cream, pepper. 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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