62 THE BOOK OF ASPARAGUS 







Asparagus Soup 



Take a bundle of about twenty heads, cut off to 

 a length of half an inch the green tops of half of 

 them and put them aside. Place in a large stew-pan a 

 quart of milk and water or stock, an ounce of butter, 

 a finely divided lettuce, a little salt and pepper, two or 

 three moderate sized onions sliced, a strip of celery, a 

 bunch of herbs, and the asparagus. Boil for an hour 

 and then strain. Pound the residue and rub it with a 

 wooden spoon through a hair sieve. Mix together this 

 pulp and the strained liquor, adding half a pint of cream, 

 the yolks of two or three eggs, and a few drops of 

 tarragon vinegar. Stir over the fire till it thickens, but 

 do not let the mixture boil. The asparagus tips, having 

 been boiled separately for about five or ten minutes, 

 are to be added to the soup when it is poured into the 

 tureen. 



These are but a few of the many ways in which 

 asparagus may be used to tickle the palate of the 

 sensuous, but the wise will beware of too elaborate 

 combinations in which the character of the vegetable 

 will certainly be lost, as it must inevitably have been in 

 that composite stew described by Dickens as produced 

 at the Jolly Sandboys. There is, however, one other 

 culinary use of asparagus which we dare not pass over, 

 namely, its use as a constituent of salads. Sir Henry 

 Thomson has said that " cold boiled asparagus served 

 with a mayonnaise forms a dish of its kind not to be 

 surpassed." Soyer said that sauces are to cookery what 

 grammar is to language, but even mayonnaise is as often 

 mangled as made. Yet its making is simplicity itself: 

 Beat in a soup-plate the yolk of one egg, adding drop by 

 drop one tablespoonful of salad oil. Then add another 

 tablespoonful of oil and mix well, after which another 

 may be added. Incorporate gradually a small teaspoonful 



