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Asparagus Loaf

A baked loaf made from cooked asparagus, butter, water, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Asparagus Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mold

  1. Grease a mold with butter.

  2. Line the mold with cooked asparagus.

Make the mixture

  1. In a saucepan, bring 1 cup of cold water to a boil.

  2. Gradually add 2 tablespoons of butter, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

  3. Cook the mixture for 6 to 8 minutes until thickened.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into the mold.

  2. Place the mold in a dish of hot water.

  3. Bake until the center is firm, avoiding boiling water.

  4. Let it stand for a few moments.

  5. Invert onto a serving dish.

  6. Serve with butter sauce and garnish with asparagus tips if desired.

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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Asparagus + lemontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together704 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  4. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Asparagus + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked asparagus
Forms the lining and visible structure of the loaf, adding flavor and texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing flavor and a smooth, tender texture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the butter.

The step that matters

Bake until the center is firm, avoiding boiling water. The loaf sets gently as proteins coagulate with heat. If the water boils or the oven runs too hot, the mixture can become porous or curdled, so a gentle, steady heat gives a smooth, firm loaf.

Swap the asparagus

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, lemon. 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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