Asparagus

Ingredients

• plenty water
• 1 handful salt
• asparagus
• 1 slice bread
• melted butter

Instructions

1. Set a stew-pan with plenty of water on the fire, sprinkle a handful of salt in it, and let it boil; skim it well.
2. Prepare the asparagus by scraping all the stalks until perfectly clean. As you scrape each stalk, throw it into a pan of cold water. When all are cleaned, tie them into small bundles of about a quarter of a hundred each, using bass or tape. Cut off the bottom stalks so all bundles are of equal length.
3. Place the bundles into the boiling salted water. Watch carefully—the asparagus will be tender at the stalk in twenty to thirty minutes. Remove them at the exact moment they become tender; a minute or two more of boiling will destroy both their flavor and color.
4. While the asparagus cooks, toast a slice of bread about half an inch thick, browning it delicately on both sides. Dip it lightly in the liquor the asparagus was boiled in, and lay it in the middle of a serving dish.
5. Pour some melted butter on the toast, and lay the asparagus upon it, allowing the toast to project beyond the asparagus so the company may see there is a toast. Do not pour butter over the asparagus itself; send melted butter separately in a boat.