Asperges au Gratin

Asperges au Gratin (asparagus glazed with Mornay and Parmesan) teaches one true thing: a gratin is not always a bake. Here the asparagus is already tender before it meets the heat, so the sauce must bronze in moments or the stalks go soft and stringy.

The original entry begins at the pass. It assumed cooked asparagus from the vegetable station, a saucier holding Mornay ready, stock never off the fire for the kitchen's sauce work, brigade portions to arrange, and a salamander fierce enough to color cheese almost on contact. At home, blanch one four-serving bunch, warm the finished Mornay gently, and preheat the broiler until it means business. A buttered foil band replaces the buttered paper because parchment can scorch beneath a domestic broiler. The staff and holding pots were scaffolding and can go; the ordered rows, two coatings of sauce, protective band, and swift glaze are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Done properly, the heads emerge beneath an ivory-gold cap freckled with Parmesan, while the uncovered stalks remain green, distinct, and tender beneath the knife. The one step that decides everything is the final glaze: broiler fully hot, platter close, and your eyes on the cheese.