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Asparagus and Eggs

A baked dish of boiled asparagus topped with eggs and butter, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,968 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Asparagus and Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Cut the asparagus into ½ inch pieces and boil for 15 minutes.

  2. Drain the asparagus and add it to the boiling butter.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a saucepan, heat the melted butter until boiling.

  2. Pour the mixture into a baking dish.

  3. Carefully break the eggs over the asparagus.

  4. Add a small piece of butter on each egg.

  5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

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

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

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

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

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Asparagus + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,026 recipes

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

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 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
Forms the bulk of the dish and provides its vegetable base and fresh flavour.
Eggs
Set with gentle heat to form a tender, creamy topping over the asparagus.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, coating the asparagus and carrying flavour.

The step that matters

Carefully break the eggs over the asparagus. Eggs set at the heat of the oven, so keeping the yolks whole and intact helps them cook into a neat, even topping rather than spreading unevenly through the dish.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, 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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