Boiled Asparagus
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Ingredients
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To each 1/2 gallon of water allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt; asparagus. [Illustration: ASPARAGUS ON TOAST. ASPARAGUS TONGS.]

Method
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Asparagus should be dressed as soon as possible after it is cut, although it may be kept for a day or two by putting the stalks into cold water; yet, to be good, like every other vegetable, it cannot be cooked too fresh. Scrape the white part of the stems, _beginning_ from the _head_, and throw them into cold water; then tie them into bundles of about 20 each, keeping the heads all one way, and cut the stalks evenly, that they may all be the same length; put them into _boiling_ water, with salt in the above proportion; keep them boiling quickly until tender, with the saucepan uncovered. When the asparagus is done, dish it upon toast, which should be dipped in the water it was cooked in, and leave the white ends outwards each war, with the points meeting in the middle. Serve with a tureen of melted butter.

Source: Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861)
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