Asparagus

[panda]

look for medium thickness, very firm, ZERO slime anywhere, pinch with tips of index and thumb up from the stem until you reach a squishy part, that's where you cut off the nasty bit.
grilled with flaky salt and fresh cracked pink peppercorns, toss with finely minced garlic and nice thick green olive oil.

as easy as that, and they taste delicious! if you must get more going on with it: slivered almonds, a light drizzle of worcestershire, fried red onions, breadcrumbs, fresh grated parm then thrown in the broiler for 2 mins.

[stopbarking]

Blanch, saute with butter, plate, meyer lemon zest and juice, sunny side up egg, pimenton, pecorino romano, maldon and black pepper

Lord knows how many times I've done that pickup. Simple and delicious.

[mr drinky]

You are an interesting fellow, I think I shall replace you with a trained chimp. We like boring here. Good day, sir.

I once read that it was genetic, and that some people's urine doesn't smell after eating asparagus. I'm not sure. All I know is it is petty bad.

I just picked up a 3-pound bag at a farmers market. Most of the stems were big and fat. Eat the thin ones raw. It's like a fresh green pea.

As for Stefan's elusive German asparagus, for a few years I used to be in Vienna, Austria in the spring, and it was so nice to get that thick white asparagus. The first time I experienced it, there seemed to be an excitement in the restaurant. Everybody was eating it and if you didn't order it, I think the waitress would have been shocked. I'm having a German over today, so I will have to see how the Minnesota green asparagus measures up to the white in her book.

k.

[SpikeC]

Lighty steamed, then wraped in prociutto and fried till a bit crispy, then drizzled with a basalmic reduction.

[kpeddie2010]

gruyere mornay then baked and the crusted with a herb panko and then thrown under the salamander to get a nice brown crust. thus producing a asparagus gratin of mornay and herb panko. dont forget to oil the panko or u wont get a even browning of the crust

[Craig]

I prefer the slender asparagus. Not so much because it's necessarily better, but because I find that the awful, flavourless asparagus you can get year-round tends to be thick and some stores will still carry the garbage when the good stuff is available. So I find thinner is safer. I suppose the real moral is fresher is better, but I find going thin is a good test of that where I am. This is for a chain grocery store, mind you. In a farmers market or something I wouldn't pay attention to that.

[cookinstuff]

I had a great dish of pickled white asparagus with a miso sauce and some sort of dried chili powder sprinkled on it. Was really good. We get really big fat white asparagus up here in Canada, but it doesn't last long, so we use it like crazy while we can.

[Sambal]

Best asparagus I've had by far are the white ones. Berlin a few years ago. I've been told that they're white because they haven't peeped through the soil yet. Is this true?

[cnochef]

Best asparagus I've had by far are the white ones. Berlin a few years ago. I've been told that they're white because they haven't peeped through the soil yet. Is this true?

No, they are grown with tarps over them so they don't have any exposure to the sun. Therefore, no photosynthesis reactions nor green color.

[tk59]

+1 to Son's post. I like to roast them in the oven or grill with just a little something: pepper, salt, a little pecorino... I had it this way today, as a matter of fact. Just be careful not to overdo it on the cooking. It's easy to turn asparagus into drab-colored mush. Use relatively high temp and low time.