I agreed with earlier posts on short cooking times for
asparagus. IMHO, less than 5 minutes is quite enough but I note
from posts in rec.food.recipes that others like to cook it to
death. I just remembered a Roman description of a very short
time: "As long as it takes to cook asparagus", so it looks like
there is historical justification for my view.

I wonder if there is any consensus on cooking methods? I just
boil it in water but I note that some advise steaming, sometimes
by keeping it in bundles with the flowers out of the water and
cooking it on a grill was also mentioned. For preparation, if
the asparagus is pencil thin as I prefer it, I can just snap off
the tough part without much wastage but I use a peeler to remove
a few inches of green skin if the spears are thick.

What dipping sauces do others recommend? I generally like just
lemon and a sprinkling of parmesan but a lot of others work well
like mayonnaise with parmesan and lemon etc.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not