- Pick carefully, wash, and tie up asparagus and sprue in little bundles with all the heads level.
- With a very sharp knife, cut the stalks level.
- Put the trimmed bundles into fast boiling water with a good allowance of salt (a quarter of an ounce to a quart), and a little sugar.
- Carefully drain the bundles and sever the tape.
- Serve the vegetable entiers, with Dutch sauce (beurre fondu), or a plain dressing of oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt.
Author of Food and Feeding's Method
- Cut asparagus of the stoutest sort, always when of the giant variety, to exactly equal lengths.
- Boil standing ends (the green tips) upwards, in a deep saucepan.
- Nearly two inches of the heads should be out of the water—the steam sufficing to cook them.
- This plan permits the hard stalky part to be rendered soft and succulent by longer boiling.
- A period of thirty or forty minutes on this plan will render fully a third more of the stalk delicious, while the head will be properly cooked in the steam alone.
Historical Method (now unnecessary)
- Place a slice of toasted bread in the dish destined to receive a bundle of asparagus, seakale, &c.
- Pour a plentiful bath of tasteless flour and water called white sauce over the toast.
- This was done because the asparagus, not having been properly drained, the toast acted as a sponge to absorb the water.
Modern Serving Suggestion
- Ensure the vegetable is very carefully drained before it is dished.
- Hand the sauce—the beurre fondu—invariably round, piping hot, in a silver boat.
- Stir a few drops of tarragon or anchovy vinegar into the sauce at the last moment.
ASPARAGUS (Asperges) and Sprue should be picked carefully,
washed, and tied up with tape in little bundles with all the
heads level; then, with a very sharp knife, the stalks should also
be cut level. Put the trimmed bundles into fast boiling water
with a good allowance of salt (a quarter of an ounce to a quart),
and a little sugar. The bundles should then be carefully drained
and the tape severed, the vegetable being served entiers, with
Dutch sauce (beurre fondu), or a plain dressing of oil, vinegar,
pepper, and salt.
The following valuable wrinkle is given by the author of
Food and Feeding:—
“Asparagus of the stouter sort, always when of the giant
variety, should be cut of exactly equal lengths, and boiled
standing ends (the green tips) upwards, in a deep saucepan.
Nearly two inches of the heads should be out of the water—
the steam sufficing to cook them, as they form the tenderest part
of the plant; while the hard stalky part is rendered soft and
succulent by the longer boiling which this plan permits. A
period of thirty or forty minutes on the plan recommended will
render fully a third more of the stalk delicious, while the head
will be properly cooked in the steam alone.” Little frames to
facilitate this process, in which the bundle of asparagus is kept
in position without trouble, can be procured at 119, New Bond
Street.
There is a custom still followed by very old-fashioned cooks,
I believe, of placing a slice of toasted bread in the dish destined
to receive a bundle of asparagus, seakale, &c., over which they
finally pour a plentiful bath of tasteless flour and water called
white sauce. The raison d’être of this was that the asparagus,
not having been properly drained, the toast acted as a sponge
to absorb the water, and people really flattered themselves that
this sodden stuff was nice to eat! Now since the vegetable
must be very carefully drained before it is dished, the toast is
utterly unnecessary, and the sauce—the beurre fondu aforesaid
—ought invariably to be handed round, piping hot, in a silver
boat, a few drops of tarragon or anchovy vinegar being stirred
into it at the last moment.
Asparagus ought never to be served in the ordinary English