Asparagus

Ingredients

• 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, let it boil, and skim it.
2. Prepare the asparagus thus: scrape all the stalks till they are perfectly clean, throwing them into a pan of cold water as you scrape them.
3. When they are all done, tie them in little bundles, of a quarter of a hundred each, with bass if you can get it, or tape.
4. Cut off the stalks at the bottom, so that they may be all of a length.
5. Put them into the boiling water. When they are tender at the stalk, which will be in from twenty to thirty minutes, they are done enough.
6. Great care must be taken to watch the exact time of their becoming tender. Take them just at that instant and they will have their true flavour and colour; a minute or two more boiling destroys both.
7. While the asparagus is boiling, toast a slice of a loaf of bread, about a half an inch thick, browned delicately on both sides.
8. Dip it lightly in the liquor the asparagus was boiled in and lay it in the middle of a dish.
9. Pour some melted butter on the toast and lay the asparagus upon it; let it project beyond the asparagus, so the company may see there is a toast.
10. Do not pour butter over them, but send some in a boat.