Asperges à la Milanaise

Asperges à la Milanaise (asparagus glazed with Parmesan and butter) teaches readiness. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is that beurre noisette (hazelnut-browned butter) waits for no one. The asparagus must be cooked, thoroughly dried, arranged with its cheese, and waiting beneath a hot broiler before the butter begins.

The book's entry assumes hot asparagus arriving well drained from the vegetable station, a saucier free to brown the butter at the last instant, and a salamander, the brigade's fierce overhead grill, ready to glaze the cheese. At home, a wide pot, a small pale skillet, and a household broiler do the same work for four. The station handoffs and brigade scale are scaffolding and can go; the draining, successive Parmesan-dusted rows, copious butter, and slight glaze are the dish and stay. No stock is called for, so none is invented. One cook, one stove, one evening.

When it is right, the asparagus stays green and supple beneath ivory-gold Parmesan, with butter pooling around the heads and smelling of toasted nuts. Take the butter to hazelnut brown and no farther. That is the step that decides the plate.