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Asparagus Loaf

A steamed loaf made with butter, flour, cream, chicken, asparagus, eggs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Asparagus Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, cook the butter and flour together until combined.

  2. Add the salt, pepper, and cream gradually, stirring until boiling.

Combine and steam

  1. Stir in the chopped chicken and cooked asparagus tips.

  2. Remove from heat and fold in the beaten eggs.

  3. Pour the mixture into a mold or an earthen bowl.

  4. Place the mold in a pot of water and steam until set.

Serve

  1. Let cool slightly before serving.

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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Chicken + asparagustop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together539 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + asparagustop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together936 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

Eggs
Set when heated, giving the loaf its firm, sliceable structure.
Flour
Thickens the butter and cream into a smooth base that holds the other ingredients.
Butter
Adds richness and helps form the flour base for the sauce.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the loaf tender rather than dry.
Cooked asparagus tips
Provide the main flavor and tender texture throughout the loaf.

The step that matters

Fold in the eggs off the heat. Eggs set when heated and can scramble if they hit a hot mixture too quickly. Removing the pan from heat before folding them in lets them blend smoothly, so the steamed loaf sets evenly and stays silky rather than grainy.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, pepper, cream, chicken, 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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