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Scalloped Asparagus

A baked dish of asparagus layered with hard‑boiled eggs, topped with a paprika‑flavored roux, breadcrumbs, and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Scalloped Asparagus

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Wash the asparagus.

  2. Cut off the hard, woody parts.

  3. Cut the tender parts into 1‑inch lengths.

  4. Par‑boil the asparagus in hot, salted water for 10 minutes.

  5. Drain the asparagus.

Layer the dish

  1. Butter a baking dish.

  2. Layer the asparagus in the dish.

  3. Scatter minced hard‑boiled eggs on top.

  4. Season with salt, pepper, and bits of butter.

  5. Repeat layering until all ingredients are used.

Make the sauce

  1. Make a roux with 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon flour.

  2. Thin the roux with 1 cup hot milk.

  3. Cook the sauce for 1 minute.

  4. Season the sauce with paprika.

  5. Pour the sauce over the top layer of asparagus.

Bake and brown

  1. Sift breadcrumbs over the dish.

  2. Add bits of butter.

  3. Sprinkle grated cheese.

  4. Bake covered at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.

  5. Uncover and brown slightly.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 and gives it its vegetable texture and flavour.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add a firm, rich texture and body between the asparagus layers.
Butter
Enriches the roux and adds fat and flavour to the sauce and top layers.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce when cooked with butter as a roux.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it creaminess once thickened.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Thin the roux with hot milk. Adding the milk gradually while stirring keeps the flour smooth and lump-free. Cooking the sauce briefly afterwards lets the starch thicken fully and loses the raw flour taste.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

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