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Asparagus Soup

A light soup made with asparagus, chicken stock, onion, egg yolk, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Asparagus Soup

Why it works: Chicken and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,814 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓

Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Cover asparagus with cold water and bring to a boil.

  2. Drain and add to chicken stock and onion.

  3. Let simmer for eight minutes.

Finish the soup

  1. Rub through a sieve.

  2. Reheat, then add cream, egg yolk, and seasonings.

  3. Strain and serve.

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. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

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

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

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

  4. Asparagus + chickentop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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
Provides the main body and the green flavour of the soup.
Egg yolk
Thickens the soup and adds richness when gently heated.
Heavy cream
Adds fat for a smoother, silkier texture and mellows the flavour.
Chicken stock
Supplies the liquid base and savoury depth for the soup.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk after reheating. Egg yolk thickens by gently coagulating its proteins. If the soup is too hot when the yolk goes in, it can curdle and turn grainy, so it should be added off the heat or at a low temperature.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against asparagus, chicken, egg, 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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