Asparagus--Totally OT to Mark Lipton

Asparagine

Dimethyl sulfide, a substance not entirely unrelated to hydrogen sulfide (the rotten egg smell). For many years, it was believed that not everyone excreted it after eating asparagus, as some percentage of people reported no detectable smell in their urine. Later on, it was established that the only significant difference was that those who couldn't smell it were remarkably insensitive to the smell of dimethyl sulfide -- lucky dogs! ;-)

Mark Lipton

Thanks for the answer. Strangely enough, I don't find the smell all that unpleasant. Granted, exposure to it is (hopefully) brief and I'm sure that I would tire of it (or become insensitive to it as one does to H2S) after extended exposure. In any case, H2S smells a lot worse.

Vino To reply, add "x" between letters and numbers of e-mail address.

Salut/Hi Vino,

le/on Fri, 23 Apr 2004 05:40:10 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

[snip]

Nor do I. In fact I'm so keen on asparagus, that I'm happy to be reminded, several hours later, of the pleasure I have had in eating it!

Dragging this kicking and screaming back on topic, we did in fact cook some asparagus last night, served in an asparagus and blue cheese quiche as an entree in a 5 course meal for some friends (modesty forbids me commenting on the quiche). Given its somewhat fearsome reputation as a difficult match - admittedly not up to jerusalem artichokes, but none the less fussy - and not having any Alsace muscat (the choice of many French), I served it with a top Bergerac, Moulin des Dames white from Ch Tour des Gendres 1999. The wine was a good mid gold, almost the colour of a sauternes, but with almost no oxidation either on mouth or nose. I had decanted it about 1 1/2 hours before hand and it was showing really well. The match was _excellent_.

Agreed. Though H2S is as nothing compared to the impurities in C2S. Or worse, ethyl mercaptan.

H2S is also a _lot_ more poisonous!

Tom S

Hydrogen sulfide is actually more poisonous than hydrogen cyanide, I believe. However, H2S poisoning can be reversed by artificial repiration if applied quickly enough unlike cyanide.

There is one consoling feature I suppose, you stop noticing the unpleasant smell once the concentration approaches a lethal value! I remember noticing this and stopping breathing quickly, while helping to pull out someone who collapsed after breathing the gas. Fortunately, the victim recovered while being carried outdoors. There was no bravery involved since we only found out about the toxicity later.

Hello Ian,

[snip]

Would you be willing to share the recipe? The local asparagus is hitting the shelves and it sounds like a yummy dish. I recall one my mom used to make with asparagus, hard boiled eggs and sausage, a very

1970's casserole, but boy was it good.

Thanks, Tom AZ

Salut/Hi Tom,

le/on 23 Apr 2004 11:30:09 -0700, tu disais/you said:-

I'm always willing to share recipes, the only problems comes about whether such a thing is on topic. I take the view that if it follows on as part of a thread, and it's not too frequent, it's OK. Especially as most of the rec.food. NGs are pretty dire.

I love it and it always goes down well. You need a very well flavoured blue, don't know what you have available in the Seattle area, but if you can get a good gorgonzola, with plenty of flavour, it would be fine. If your blue cheese is light in flavour, use more, and cut down on the cream cheese.

This is not particularly substantial as it's designed to be used as a "starter" (between soup and main dish) as part of a five course meal. I prefer green asparagus to white, which is one of the VERY few things Michael Pronay and I disagree strongly about!

@@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format

Asparagus And Blue Cheese Quiche

cheese/eggs, french, starters, tarts, vegetables

----AMERICAN UNITS----

8 oz pastry; * 1 oz blue cheese (good) 1 1/2 oz cream cheese (philadelphia) 7 fl oz made up to with half & half 8 oz asparagus; peeled & cooked ----METRIC UNITS---- 250 gm pastry; * 30 gm blue cheese 45 gm cream cheese 200 ml made up to with half & half 250 gm asparagus; peeled & cooked ----COMMON---- 3 medium eggs 1 salt, pepper & cayenne

NB* As usual, the weight of pastry is the weight of flour used to make it.

Roll out the pastry and line a 9" flan ring. Bake blind as usual at a high temperature (400 for 8-9 mins weighted down then a futher 2-3 mins just to colour lightly). Meanwhile, mash the cheeses together, put into a measuring jug and make up to volume with cream or cream and milk. Beat hard with the eggs (food processor). Season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne as usual. The asparagus should have been peeled/trimmed as usual and boiled in strongly salted water until just tender - for really freshly picked asparagus

My, what a bunch of chem-geeks we are! ;-) You're correct about the toxicity of H2S vs. HCN, but HCN is slightly more toxic (LC50 in rats is

169 ppm for 30 minutes for HCN, whereas is 713 ppm for 1 hr for H2S). The big difference is that the smell of hydrogen sulfide is intolerable at levels well below lethal (whereas some people can't smell hydrogen cyanide at its lethal concentration). Typically, the only way someone can be poisoned by H2S is when its concentration is gradually increased over a long period of time so that the person's sense of smell is desensitized by long exposure to H2S. Was your coworker simply ignoring the smell, or was it a sudden exposure that overwhelmed him?

Mark Lipton

H2S).

intolerable

hydrogen

someone

increased

ignoring

Yes, it was a sudden exposure and he was doing something that he should not have tried. The incident actually had some effect on the introduction of semi-micro methods and safer methods of generating hydrogen sulfide.

Jim.

As we are trading recipes, I prefer my asparagus simply prepared, al dente, then saute some sliced almonds in butter and pour both nuts and butter over the asparagus.

You can also add grated Reggiano, broil it etc., but simple seems to work best. I have also been known to BBQ my 'sparagus first.

This works well with an Alsatian Pinot Gris or such like.

I'll bite. Now try this:

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Take your asparagus and give it a toss with some olive oil & a light sprinkle of salt. Lay those green boys down in one layer on a baking sheet or the like. Roast in the hot oven until they just begin to brown (shake & turn them if you are a diligent cook, otherwise just make sure to get them out before they are wrinkled burnt sticks) So easy and so good.

-e

I can recall two incidents where H2S exposure led to death. One was in a textile mill in Alabama where a worker entered an area where H2S was present and was overcome. Another worker went in to rescue him and was also overcome. This sequence of events repeated itself until four or five men died. The other was in West Texas where a valve on a high pressure natural gas well failed. The natural gas contained some concentration of H2S and two nearby residents breathed lethal concentrations of H2S. I can recall generating H2S in a college chemistry lab (by adding hydrochoric acid to FeS) and going home with a headache. I doubt that is done anymore. In any case, H2S is nothing to fool around with.

Some high pressure (20 Kpsi or so) natural gas deposits contain significant concentrations of H2S. Because the volume of NG is so great at STP, they are worth exploiting commercially. Sometimes it it commercially worthwhile to process the H2S for the sulfur. The alternative is to burn it off, which generates SO2, which causes problems of its own.

Vino To reply, add "x" between letters and numbers of e-mail address.

I seem to remember we used to use thioacetamide for in situ H2S generation in chem lab when running qualitative analysis.

Tom S

Yes, as simple as possible. I prefer them like this with just a little of my best EVOO and some particularly aromatic pepper. My oarents used to prepare them with a soft boiled egg, to dip them in.

Last weekend in Tuscany I had them littly stir fried, they were great.

Anyhow, I only buy the green thin ones. To me, the ones that need peeling are tasteless.

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Salut/Hi Bill Spohn,

le/on 23 Apr 2004 22:34:31 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

Absolutely agree. BUT, sometimes, especially early in the seasnon, you don't get enough at a picking to feed them to 6 or 8, and then the quiche works fine as a way of stretching them.

As for saucing, I prefer the simplest possible - half salted butter, _just_ melted and poured in a pool on the plate, you then dabble each stick in as you eat it (with your fingers, no utensil is acceptable).

Agreed.

Possibly it is a bit OT but the mention of stir fried asparagus prompted me to post a recipe (tho' getting fresh water chestnuts may be a problem) that I like and which takes very little time.

Asparagus and water chestnuts

Blanch asparagus, cut in 3" lengths, for 2 mins

2 fresh water chestnuts per person, slice thinly

Sauce for about 2 portions

2 tab mirin

2 tab mild soy sauce

1 tab grated ginger

1 chopped garlic clove

1 tab rice vinegar

1 tab corn starch

Other stir-fry sauces would probably work too but this one seems to accentuate the flavors well.

Stir fry water chestnuts and asparagus for a minute

Add sauce and stir until thickens.

Whereas end of season, when they are getting a little tougher and not quite as tasty, the risotto is an excellent solution. Put most of the chopped asparagus in right from the beginning when you add the stock to the rice, and save the tender tips for 5 minutes from the end of cooking.

Yummmmmm.

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link