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Asparagus Soup

A light soup made with asparagus heads, cut asparagus, onion, butter, and water, seasoned with salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Asparagus Soup

Why it works: Asparagus and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,212 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil the asparagus heads and cut pieces in 4 cups of water until tender.

  2. Remove half of the asparagus heads and blend them through a sieve to thicken the soup.

  3. In a pan, fry the onion in butter until soft, then blend it through a sieve.

  4. Combine the blended onion and asparagus mixture back into the soup.

  5. Add the remaining asparagus pieces and cook until just crisp.

  6. Season with salt to taste 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.

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 + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,212 recipes

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

  2. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. 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

Asparagus
Provides the main flavour and, when puréed, body to the soup.
Onion
Softened in butter, it adds sweetness and savoury depth to the base.
Butter
Fat that softens the onion and carries flavour through the soup.

The step that matters

Add the remaining asparagus pieces and cook until just crisp.. Asparagus overcooks quickly and turns dull and mushy. Stopping when it is just crisp keeps its bright colour and bite, which contrast with the smooth purée.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, butter. 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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