How to prepare white asparagus

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 400 g, you will need:

• 1 500 g Asparagus
• 2 50 g butter (optional)
• Total weight: 500 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
25 min.	10 min.	35 min.

Step by step recipe

1	There's no need to wash the asparagus before peeling - you can do that afterwards.
2	Peeling Place the asparagus on a cutting board, ideally a little higher than your work surface.
3	Using a peeler, make a movement from the head to the foot, stopping a good 1 cm from the foot of the asparagus, there's no need to go all the way...
4	...then rotate the asparagus slightly and repeat, until you've gone all the way around the asparagus.
5	At the end, break off the stalk - chefs call it "the wood" - along with the peelings, and throw it away (in the compost).
6	Your asparagus is completely peeled, ready to be washed and cooked.
7	Here's a short video showing the complete peeling process.
8	Do this for all your asparagus, then wash and drain.
9	Cooking "À l'anglaise" This is the simplest method: bring a pan of water to the boil, season with salt, and plunge in the peeled asparagus. Cook until the asparagus melts, about 10 minutes. The tip of a knife should pierce the bottom of the asparagus easily ("as if in butter").
10	Then drain the asparagus...
11	...then set aside on a kitchen towel or paper towel. This is important because asparagus cooked in this way always gives off a little water afterwards, which is best drained off.
12	Cooking "À court mouillement" A more sophisticated method, asparagus is cooked in a mixture of butter and water, which then reduces and concentrates the flavors. In a frying pan or saucepan over medium heat, melt a large knob of butter.
13	Pour in the peeled asparagus, season with salt and pepper, then stir a little, and add enough water to reach halfway up the asparagus (about 1 or 2 glasses).
14	Cover with a sheet of baking paper...
15	...and put a lid on it.
16	Cook until melted, about 10 minutes, a knife tip should pierce the bottom of the asparagus stem very easily ("as if in butter"). Remove the paper and lid for the last 3-4 minutes to reduce the cooking juices.
17	Drain the asparagus, and it's ready for your recipe, or to be eaten as is, with a mayonnaise or hollandaise sauce, for example.

Remarks

Preparing green asparagus is a little different, see how here.
For short-cooking, you can replace the water with stock, or a mixture of stock or water + white wine.
Many recipes recommend cooking asparagus "in bunches", but I don't find this very effective: asparagus in bunches cooks less well than on its own.

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