now will cook the asparagus - phase 3 - equally important
but we will not discard this, coz we need it to cook
look, there are 2 ways of cooking asparagus
if we talk about white asparagus
not about the green ones
if you're interested in the presentation
and you want a bright, white asparagus
presentation is nowadays very prominent again
if you really want a beautifully white asparagus
then you cook the asparagus in water and salt
but if you want a tasty asparagus
then we use the classic way of cooking asparagus
in the kitchen we usually use a roasting tray
to cook the asparagus, so they can all neatly lay lengthwise
certainly if you have big asparagus
at home you can, certainly if you have cut them evenly
do exactly the same with a pot on the stove
we want the asparagus to be tasty
and taste we get by using - let's say the waste, the peels
and the ends we cut off - during cooking
a part we put in the bottom of the roasting tray or pot
then we put in the asparagus on top
then we cover them - and to increase the weight a bit -
with some peels and cuttings
to ensure the asparagus are under water
and get a lot of flavour
why do we put the peels on the bottom?
because when we bring it to the boil, the asparagus will absorb all the taste
the water comes to a boil, the taste is extracted from the peels
it is absorbed by the asparagus and then you have the most tasty asparagus you can imagine
taking into account a few tricks...
the asparagus will be a little less, pure white in colour
but you will have in turn the tastiest asparagus possible
so... a part of the peels goes in the bottom of the baking tray
then we take a
clean dishcloth
in the kitchen we use a cheese cloth
the same cloth we use to clarify stock
and we put our beautiful, peeled asparagus on top
then we add cooking liquid and flavouring and we have a few tricks for that as well
first!
normal water
and I use the liquid in which the asparagus have been soaking
until they're almost covered
then a good glass of white wine
for extra taste
and now I have to see that my asparagus are exactly under the surface
otherwise I need to add a little water
until they're all covered
purely for taste
a few chunks of butter
and of course
on the asparagus and the liquid we put salt
now you would think...
pepper from the mill
but because I don't want any black specks on my beautiful white asparagus
I use some black pepper corns
which I briefly crush with the knife
and so will release their flavour but not their colour
for me, the big trick is
with asparagus, to add a bit of mace
rather than to add nutmeg
nutmeg also adds colour and sometimes too strong a flavour
and now I'll tell you a very dirty trick
there is this trick - and I don't do it often -
but I've worked in traditional kitchens
and guests were always full of praise about our asparagus
and emmm
even though I prefer to cook them like this
I'll nevertheless give you this
and that's simply a little sugar
sugar works with many vegetables as a nice taste enhancer
don't tell anyone...
trick number 2... the asparagus will colour a bit more now
to achieve a white colour in the asparagus and as an opposite to the sugar
and to bring out the full taste of the asparagus
we add a little bit of lemon juice
and lemon juice also ensures the asparagus will not turn brown that fast
then we fold the cloth
and we cover the top
with the asparagus ends
and the rest of the peels
then we bring all this slowly to a boil
now I have a dilemma
because I use the asparagus as a starter or in a salad then they need to be crisp
and I use them as a main course - warm - and then they need to be soft
and look; if at home I cook asparagus as a main course
then I let them cook
for about 8 minutes
then I take off the cloth, I poke them and if they are nice and soft
then I take them out and serve them
but in a restaurant kitchen you cannot do that
so what we do in a restaurant kitchen
we bring the asparagus to the boil
and once they are bubbling away and are cooking
I switch off the fire
then I let them slowly cook in the liquid
away from the fire
then I always have a crisp asparagus
and if I need them as a main course
then I put them back in the sieved cooking liquid
I warm them up and then they're exactly done
then comes the demasquee
we're going to look if our asparagus are cooked
very careful because it's blazing hot
we put the top to the side
and then easiest with a tong
the cloth to the side
and then we take one asparagus
we poke it with a knife
and we feel; this is perfectly cooked
this asparagus we can serve beautifully as a main course
you see; it is still crispy and still has a bite
the asparagus is not hanging limply
in the professional kitchen we call this 'slier' asparagus
which just means: cooked asparagus
I finish them in the classic way 'a la Flamande'
I need to tell you honestly
that if I order asparagus a la Flamande I always get slices of warm ham on the side
while actually asparagus a la Flamande is a vegetarian dish
because it is asparagus with melted butter
and egg - that is the classic 'Flamande'
there are 2 ways you can prepare it
you can do it at the table; in the restaurant
then the asparagus are served under a serviette, nice and warm on a tray
at the table - in a deep plate - by the matre d
the egg is chopped finely
with parsley, salt and pepper
then mixed with melted butter
that mixture is then draped over the asparagus
that's the restaurant way so to speak
if you do it in the kitchen you do it different, actually a little more refined
then we do it 'mimosa style'
and for mimosa style asparagus we have rubbed cooked egg yolks through a sieve with the back of a spoon
we have melted butter
and now we pour the butter over the egg yolks and make a sauce of it
we mix the yolks with so much butter
that we get a beautiful creamy sauce
this sauce we bring to taste with pepper from the mill
salt and - to your liking - a little nutmeg
never use too much nutmeg
nutmeg can dominate a dish and we already have the taste of mace in the asparagus
now we place the asparagus on the plate
on the plate we already have some new potatoes
cooked in the peel, then peeled and dressed with some butter with salt, pepper and parsley
now we position the asparagus
in a menu I take 300 gram asparagus per person
and only if we serve asparagus as a main course, I take
about 500 gram asparagus per person
dab the asparagus - before putting them on the plate - on a dry cloth
so that later when I add sauce it won't run
or separate
the sauce needs to be thick of course
then we dress the egg whites over the middle of the asparagus
and finally, the egg/butter sauce, over the tips of the asparagus
asparagus 'a la Flamande'
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