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

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 doesn't cook as well as asparagus on its own.

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