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Asparagus Soup

A soup made from canned asparagus, milk, and egg yolk, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Asparagus Soup

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 Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Open the tin of asparagus and drain the liquid into an enamel bowl.

  2. Carefully slide the asparagus onto a dish and remove the tops with a silver knife.

Make the soup

  1. Place the remaining asparagus into the liquid and simmer over low heat until tender.

  2. Rub the mixture through a sieve and add salt and pepper.

  3. Stir in the diluted milk and reheat without boiling.

  4. Just before serving, add the beaten egg yolk.

  5. Warm the tips and add them to the soup or use them to decorate another dish.

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

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

  2. Asparagus + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together650 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Asparagus
Forms the main body and flavour of the soup once simmered and sieved.
Milk
Adds moisture and a creamy, smooth texture to the soup.
Egg yolk
Enriches the soup and thickens it slightly when added off the heat.

The step that matters

Stir in the egg yolk just before serving. Egg yolk thickens through gentle heat. If the soup boils after the yolk goes in, it can scramble and turn grainy, so it should be added last and kept below boiling.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

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