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Asparagus Points

Asparagus points served with thickened veal gravy, egg yolks, melted butter, lemon juice, salt, and white pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and lemon work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 704 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Asparagus Points

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the asparagus points for 10 to 15 minutes until tender.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix the thickened veal gravy with the egg yolks.

  3. In another bowl, combine melted butter, lemon juice, salt, and white pepper.

Serve

  1. Serve the asparagus with the gravy mixture and melted butter sauce.

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. Asparagus + lemontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together704 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Lemon + white peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,658 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Asparagus + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus points
Forms the main vegetable base and provides tender texture when boiled.
Thickened veal gravy
Adds savory body and moisture to the dish.
Egg yolks
Thicken the gravy mixture through gentle heat-setting and add richness.
Melted butter
Provides fat for a smooth, rich sauce that carries flavour.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the richness of the butter and yolks.

The step that matters

Combining the egg yolks with the gravy. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat and can scramble if they meet hot liquid too quickly. Mixing them carefully keeps the sauce smooth and glossy.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, veal, egg, butter, lemon. 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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