Chef Juliette
Suet Dumpling
Boulettes au suif, poached beside salt beef, turn equal weights of flour and finely chopped suet into tender, rich dumplings. Keep the beef liquor at a bare tremble and the old garnish works beautifully at home.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Pointes d’Asperges à la Crème
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2045, Pointes d’Asperges à la Crème, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Pointes d’Asperges à la Crème makes one promise: vivid green asparagus held by cream that clings rather than puddles. Reduce first, dry the vegetable well, and an old garnish becomes a generous home side.
Side Dishes
French
Easter
Dinner Party
Quick Meal
15 min
Active Time
20 min cook•35 min total
Yield4 servings
Pointes d’Asperges à la Crème (asparagus tips with cream) teaches water control. The asparagus must be vivid, hot, and truly dry before cream touches it; reduce the cream first, because raw cream poured over wet vegetables can only make a pale puddle. When it is right, every pea-sized stem piece wears a thin ivory glaze and the handsome green tips sit proudly on top.
The old entry assumes two stations working without discussion: an entremetier sends over asparagus prepared according to Sprew with Butter (Pointes d’Asperges) (No. 2044), and a saucier has reduced cream ready at the same moment. It asks for neither a stockpot nor a salamander, because neither would improve it. At home, one small saucepan and one wide sauté pan do both jobs. The cross-reference supplies the trimming, quick salted-water cooking, and thorough drying; this variation replaces its final butter binding with reduced cream. The little pastry shells are service scaffolding, not the dish. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Watch the cream, not the clock. It must reach nappant, the point where it coats the back of a spoon, before the asparagus enters. That reduction is the one step that decides whether the sauce clings or slackens on the plate.
Pointes d’Asperges à la Crème belongs to the classical Parisian service of légumes and entremets, where fine green asparagus appeared in timbales or small pastry cases rather than merely beside a roast. The preparation reflects the working division of the grand kitchen: the vegetable station cooked and drained the asparagus while sauce work supplied its cream binding. Despite the title, the dish did not waste the tender lower stalk; those pieces were cut pea-small, while the handsome heads were reserved to crown the dish.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Sprew with Butter (Pointes d’Asperges)
Quantity
1 batch (about 4 cups / 950 ml / 600 g) Sprew with Butter (Pointes d’Asperges) (No. 2044)
scaled for four and prepared through moisture evaporation, with its final butter binding omitted
heavy cream
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 240 g)
divided
fine sea salt
Quantity
Up to 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g)
as needed
miniature baked tartlet shells (optional)
Quantity
8 shells, about 2 1/2 inches (6 cm) wide and 160 g total
warmed before filling
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Sprew with Butter (Pointes d’Asperges)scaled for four and prepared through moisture evaporation, with its final butter binding omitted | 1 batch (about 4 cups / 950 ml / 600 g) Sprew with Butter (Pointes d’Asperges) (No. 2044) |
| heavy creamdivided | 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) |
| fine sea saltas needed | Up to 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g) |
| miniature baked tartlet shells (optional)warmed before filling | 8 shells, about 2 1/2 inches (6 cm) wide and 160 g total |
Equipment Needed
- •1-quart (1-liter) heavy saucepan
- •12-inch (30 cm) wide sauté pan
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Slotted spoon or small tongs
- •Warmed 1-quart (1-liter) timbale or deep serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Ready the asparagus
Prepare the Sprew with Butter (Pointes d’Asperges) (No. 2044) according to its own entry, scaled to four, through the point where the boiled asparagus has been thoroughly drained and tossed over heat until every trace of surface moisture evaporates. Keep the two-inch heads apart from the pea-sized tender stem pieces for the final arrangement. Stop before its butter binding: this variation directs cream in its place, and adding both would blur the distinction the book intends.
The asparagus should look satiny but leave no wet mark on the pan. Water trapped among the pieces will thin the cream the instant they meet. - 2
Reduce the cream
Pour the cream into a small saucepan, holding back 2 tablespoons in a cup. Bring the rest to a lively simmer over medium heat, then lower the heat and reduce it steadily, swirling often, until it reaches nappant: thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and hold a clean line when you draw a finger through it. This takes about 6 to 8 minutes. Taste before adding salt, since the asparagus was cooked in salted water. If the cream turns grainy or shows an oily edge, pull it from the heat and whisk in the reserved cold cream one spoonful at a time. Ça se rattrape.
- 3
Bind without flooding
Set the wide sauté pan over medium-low heat and add the hot, dry pea-sized asparagus pieces. Pour over enough reduced cream to coat them, then toss gently for 45 to 60 seconds, just until every piece gleams and the cream gathers around it rather than beneath it. If released moisture makes the sauce runny, lift out the asparagus with a slotted spoon, reduce the cream alone for another minute, and return the pieces. Do not boil them hard in the sauce, or their color and shape will suffer.
- 4
Crown and serve
Spoon the creamed asparagus pieces into a warmed timbale or deep serving bowl, heaping them rather than pressing them flat. Arrange the two-inch tips on top in neat, compact bundles. The brigade gathered these carefully for formal service; at home, a pair of tongs gives the same order without string or ceremony. If using tartlet shells, divide the creamed pieces among the eight warm shells and crown each with several tips. Serve at once. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose fresh green asparagus with tight heads and tender stalks. Very thin spears suit this preparation beautifully; if the stalks are thick, peel their lower tender portion before cutting it pea-small.
- •Heavy cream is the structure of the sauce, not merely richness. Milk or half-and-half takes too long to reduce and leaves a thin coating; use cream with enough fat to become smooth and nappant.
- •Drying is the dish. Let the asparagus toss over the heat until its washing and cooking water have disappeared, then introduce the reduced cream. Patience, not extra thickener.
- •Serve immediately if you can. Leftovers keep chilled for one day, but the asparagus softens and its green dulls; reheat over the gentlest heat with a spoonful of cream.
- •A dry Touraine Sauvignon Blanc has the freshness to meet asparagus and enough acidity to clear the cream from the palate.
Advance Preparation
- •The asparagus from Sprew with Butter (Pointes d’Asperges) (No. 2044) may be carried through its salted-water cooking up to 4 hours ahead. Spread it on a towel-lined tray, chill it uncovered until cold, then cover; complete the moisture evaporation over heat just before binding.
- •The cream can be reduced up to 1 hour ahead and held covered off the heat. Warm it gently before use, loosening it with some of the reserved cream if it has tightened.
- •The optional tartlet shells can be baked a day ahead and kept airtight. Warm them briefly before filling so they remain crisp beneath the cream.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 200g)
Calories
235 calories
Total Fat
22 g
Saturated Fat
14 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
70 mg
Sodium
180 mg
Total Carbohydrates
8 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
5 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Vegetables and Farinaceous Products - Artichokes and Egg-Plant
Browse the full collection
Chef Juliette
Various Panadas for Stuffings
Bread, flour, frangipane, and rice become four cool, supple panades for binding forcemeats, each changing body and flavor while preserving tenderness. The finest Mousselines need none, and knowing that distinction is the lesson.
Chef Juliette
A. Bread Panada
Panade au pain is bread, milk, salt, heat, and attention: stir until the paste releases cleanly, butter it against a skin, and you have the quiet binder behind tender French farces.
Chef Juliette
B. Flour Panada
Panade de farine teaches the drying stroke behind pâte à choux: flour meets boiling buttered water, then stays over the fire until the paste gathers, smooths, and quits the pan cleanly.