“All persons that have a garden should have an asparagus-bed; it is valuable as being one of the first vegetables in the spring.

Asparagus from hot houses and the South begins to come into the market in March and April. It is then costly, but in May and June is abundant and quite cheap. About the last of June it grows poor, and no matter how low the price, it will be an expensive article to buy as it has then become very “woody.” The heads should be full and green.”

INFORMATION FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS

A NICE WAY OF COOKING ASPARAGUS
Having carefully scraped the stalks till they appear white and thrown them into cold water, tie them up in small bundles with tape and cut the stalks of an equal length. Put them into a stew-pan of boiling water a little salted and take them up as soon as they begin to be tender, or they will lose both their taste and color.

Meanwhile make toasts well browned for the bottom of the dish, moisten them in the asparagus liquor, place them regularly, and pour on some melted butter. Then lay the asparagus on the toasts round the dish with the heads united at the center, but pour no butter over them. Serve with melted butter in a sauce tureen that the company may season with and add salt and pepper to their taste.

FRIED ASPARAGUS
Blanch the asparagus two minutes, and drain. Dip each one in batter and fry in hot fat. Take out with a skimmer when done, drain in a colander, salt it, and serve hot.

ASPARAGUS AND EGGS
Cut twenty-five or thirty heads of asparagus into bits half an inch long, and boil fifteen minutes. Have a cupful of rich drawn butter* in a saucepan, and put in the asparagus when you have drained it dry. Heat together to a boil, seasoning with pepper and salt, and pour into a buttered bake dish. Break five or six eggs carefully over the surface; put a bit of butter upon each; sprinkle with salt, and pepper, and put in the oven until the eggs are set.

Or,

You may beat the eggs—yolks and whites separately—to a froth; season with butter, pepper, and salt; stir them together, with the addition of three tablespoonfuls of milk or cream, and pour evenly over the asparagus mixture in the dish. This is decidedly the better way of the two, although somewhat more troublesome.

*drawn butter – butter melted until it foams and the solids sink. Foam is skimmed off and the solids discarded, leaving clear butter.

ASPARAGUS WITH CREAM
Have the asparagus tied in bundles. Wash, and plunge into boiling water in which there is a teaspoon of salt for every quart of water. Boil rapidly for fifteen minutes. Take it up and cut off the tender heads. Put them in a clean sauce-pan with one generous cupful of cream or milk to every quart of asparagus. Simmer ten minutes. Mix one tablespoon of butter and a teaspoon of flour together. When creamy, stir in with the asparagus. Add salt and pepper to taste, and simmer five minutes longer.

ASPARAGUS LOAVES
Having scraped the stalks of three bundles of fine, large asparagus, (laying it, as you proceed, in a pan of cold water,) tie it up again in bunches, put them into a pot with a great deal of boiling water and a little salt and boil them about twenty minutes, or till quite tender. Then take out the asparagus and drain it. Cut off the green tops of two-thirds of the asparagus, and on the remainder, leave about two inches of the white stalk. This remaining asparagus must be kept warm. Put the tops into a stew-pan with a pint of cream or rich milk, sufficient to cover them well. Add three tablespoonfuls of fresh butter, rolled in flour, half a grated nutmeg, and the well-beaten yolks of three eggs. Set the stew-pan over hot coals, and stir the mixture till it comes to a boil, then immediately remove it.

Have ready some tall fresh rolls. Cut the tops carefully off in a nice circular or oval piece, scoop out the inside of the rolls, and fill them with the stewed asparagus while it is hot. Make small holes very nicely in the tops or lids. Fit the lids again on the rolls, and stick in the holes the remaining asparagus, that has had the bit of stalk left on for this purpose. Send them to the table warm, as side-dishes.

PICKLED ASPARAGUS
Cut some asparagus and lay it in an earthen pot. Make a brine of salt and water, strong enough to bear an egg*. Pour it hot on the asparagus, and let it be closely covered. When it is to be used, lay it for two hours in cold water. Boil and serve it up on a toast with melted butter over it. If to be used as a pickle, boil it as it comes out of the brine, and lay it in vinegar.

*to bear an egg — the egg will float to the top of the water with a little bit exposed to the air

ASPARAGUS OMELET
Take two bunches of the largest and finest asparagus. Put them into a pot of boiling water with a teaspoon of salt, and boil it about twenty-five minutes or till perfectly tender. Then drain and chop small all the green part. Beat four eggs very light, and add to them a wine glass* of cream. Mix the chopped asparagus thoroughly with the egg and cream, adding a saltspoon* of salt, and a very little cayenne. Melt a large slice of fresh butter in a frying-pan over the fire and when it has boiled and the bubbling has ceased, put in the mixture. Fry it till light and firm, then slip it from the frying-pan to a hot dish and fold it over.

*wine glass – one-fourth cup.
*saltspoon – a miniature spoon used with an open salt cellar for individual use before table salt was free-flowing. One saltspoon equals one-fourth teaspoon.

ASPARAGUS SOUP
Asparagus soup may be made in a similar manner to that of green peas. You must have four or five bunches of asparagus. Cut off the green tops and put half of them into the soup after the meat has been boiled to pieces and strained out. The asparagus must be boiled till quite dissolved and till it has given a green color to the soup. Then take the remainder of the asparagus tops (which must all this time have been lying in cold water), put them into the soup, and let them boil about twenty minutes. Serve it up with small squares of toast in the tureen.

You may heighten the green of this soup by adding the juice of a handful of spinach, pounded in a mortar and strained. Or you may color it with the juice of boiled spinach squeezed through a cloth. The spinach juice should be put in ten minutes before you take up the soup, as a short boiling in it will take off the peculiar taste. Asparagus is also agreeable in chicken soup.

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I hate to admit I’ve never cooked fresh asparagus. I guess it’s time to give it a try. Do you cook asparagus? Leave a comment below.

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