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ASPARAGUS TIPS (Pointes d'Asperges Creme)
Break off the tips and tie in small bundles, cut the tender part of the stalk half an inch long, and cook both in boiling water, the tips separately to prevent them breaking; when tender drain well. Now take a little Bechamel sauce (see BECHAMEL), and reduce with a little of the water that has cooked the asparagus; thicken with the yolk of an egg or whipped cream to proper consistency, and season to taste. Put the asparagus into a saucepan with the sauce until quite hot. Serve on porcelain dishes. Probable cost, 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. per bundle.
A simple creamed asparagus in the French style, written for cooks who already knew how to make Béchamel. The only real technique here is keeping the tips intact and not letting the enriched sauce boil.
- Do not boil after the egg goes inOnce the Béchamel is thickened with egg yolk it must be held below a simmer, or the yolk scrambles and the sauce turns grainy. Reheat the asparagus in the sauce over gentle heat only, or set the pan over hot water.
- Cooking the two parts separatelyThe recipe's stated reason is to keep the tips from breaking. The two parts also cook at different rates, the tips needing only a few minutes and the half-inch stalk pieces a little longer depending on thickness, so cooking them together risks either underdone stalk or collapsed tips.
- Tie the bundles looselySoft kitchen string, tied twice along the bundle, lets you lift the tips out cleanly. Modern practice is to shock them briefly in cold water if there is any wait before saucing, to hold the colour.
- Reducing with the cooking waterA few tablespoons of the asparagus water stirred into the Béchamel and simmered down carries the flavour. Salt the cooking water lightly, since reduction concentrates it.
- Egg yolk or creamThese are not interchangeable in handling. One yolk per cup of sauce thickens on gentle heat; whipped cream is folded in off the heat and gives a lighter, looser result that will not hold long.
- "Porcelain dishes"The recipe specifies only porcelain, and says nothing about size or shape. Any warmed shallow dish will do the job; porcelain has the advantage of being non-reactive with an egg-thickened sauce.
- Quantity and yieldVictorian asparagus bundles varied in size and were often reckoned by the number of heads rather than by weight, so the yield cannot be fixed with confidence. A single bundle with a cup or so of sauce would make a first course for a few people.
- The price line2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. per bundle was expensive for a vegetable, which tells you this was a spring luxury rather than everyday food.
Pointes d'asperges a la creme belongs to the repertoire of French service that many English households took up in the later nineteenth century, which is why Cassell's gives the French name alongside the English and sends the reader off to a separate Bechamel entry rather than repeating it. Asparagus in Britain had a short, costly season, supplied in part by market gardens around London and by growers in the Vale of Evesham, and the price note in the text reflects that scarcity. Separating tips from stalks was a familiar kitchen economy: the tips could be served whole as a garnish, while the tender stalk sections were cut into short lengths and sauced -- though in this recipe both go into the same dish. The tougher lower stalk, not mentioned here, would presumably have gone to soup or stock.