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Creamed Asparagus

Creamed asparagus is a sauce of cooked asparagus, cream, flour, salt, pepper, served on toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Creamed Asparagus

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook

  1. Cut the tender parts of the asparagus into pieces as long as the stems are thick.

  2. Cook the asparagus in a little water until tender.

  3. Let the asparagus cook nearly dry, then add the cream.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Thicken the mixture with a little flour rubbed smooth in water.

  2. Reduce to a thick sauce, add salt and pepper, and serve on toast.

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 + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together936 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. Asparagus + creamtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together838 recipes

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

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 of the dish, becoming tender as it cooks in a little water.
Cream
Provides richness and a smooth, silky texture as the mixture reduces.
Flour
Thickens the liquid into a sauce as it is rubbed smooth in water and cooked.

The step that matters

Let the asparagus cook nearly dry before adding the cream. If liquid remains, the cream will be diluted and the sauce will stay thin. Cooking off the water concentrates the asparagus flavour and lets the cream reduce to a thick, clinging consistency.

Swap the asparagus

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, pepper, flour. 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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