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To Dry Artichoke Bottoms

A method for drying and preserving artichoke bottoms for later use.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Artichoke and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 636 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

To Dry Artichoke Bottoms

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the artichokes

  1. Gather the largest firm artichokes in season.

  2. Cut off the stalks.

  3. Boil the artichokes until the leaves and choke can be removed.

Dry the bottoms

  1. Place them on a baking plate in a slow oven (300 °F / 150 °C) or hang them in a warm place to dry.

  2. Once dried, store them in paper bags.

Rehydrate and braise

  1. Soak them in warm water until pliable.

  2. Trim them neatly.

  3. Braise in stock and lemon juice to keep them white.

  4. Cut into pieces for ragout or serve whole with sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Artichoke + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together636 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Large firm artichokes
Provide the edible bottoms that are dried, then softened and braised.
Stock
Adds savoury liquid that braises the artichokes and flavours them as they soften.
Lemon juice
Its acidity helps keep the cut artichokes pale during braising.

The step that matters

Drying the bottoms. Drying must be thorough and slow, because damp artichoke bottoms can spoil in storage. A slow oven or warm spot removes moisture gradually, which keeps the texture even and makes the bottoms store well until they are soaked again.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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