Skip to main content
Breakfast

Scrambled Eggs, with Asparagus-tops

A quick scrambled egg dish mixed with cooked asparagus tops.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Scrambled Eggs, with Asparagus-tops

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook

  1. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper.

  2. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.

  3. Add the egg mixture and cook, stirring gently until the eggs are just set.

Finish and serve

  1. Fold in the cooked asparagus tops and 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.

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

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

  2. Pepper + asparagustop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 recipes

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

  3. Milk + asparagustop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together650 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Egg + asparagustop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

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

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into soft curds that give the scramble its structure and body.
Milk
Adds moisture so the eggs stay tender rather than dry and rubbery.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and helps keep the eggs from sticking to the skillet.
Asparagus tops
Add a tender, slightly grassy vegetable texture and flavor to the eggs.

The step that matters

Stirring gently until just set. Eggs keep cooking from residual heat after leaving the pan. Removing them while still glossy and slightly soft prevents overcooking, which causes toughness and a dry, rubbery texture.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, pepper, 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.

You might also like

Rice GruelRice Gruel28 recipesPeptoned Milk GruelPeptoned Milk Gruel9 recipes