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Puree of Jerusalem Artichokes

A creamy puree made from Jerusalem artichokes, ham, consommé, and French roll crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Puree of Jerusalem Artichokes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare and wash the Jerusalem artichokes, then slice them.

  2. In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the sliced artichokes and ham.

  3. Set over low heat to soak for 1 hour, shaking the pan frequently.

Make the puree

  1. Add the consommé and bring to a boil for 30 minutes, skimming off the fat.

  2. Soak the crumb of the French rolls in milk, then squeeze out the milk.

  3. Boil the soaked crumb in the soup, then pass through a fine sieve.

  4. Return the puree to a clean pot, stir over heat until boiling, and skim the soup before serving.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Jerusalem artichoke + milktop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together138 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  4. Jerusalem artichoke + buttertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together267 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl decanoate (grape, waxy).

  5. Ham + milktop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,089 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Jerusalem artichokes
Provide the main body and flavour of the puree once cooked and sieved.
Butter
Carries flavour and adds richness as it coats the sliced artichokes.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, meaty flavour to the soup base.
French rolls
Their soaked crumb thickens the soup and gives the puree body.

The step that matters

Passing the puree through a fine sieve. Starch from the cooked artichokes and crumb can leave the puree grainy or lumpy if not pressed fully through a fine sieve, so the texture stays smooth.

Swap the jerusalem artichoke

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, ham, milk):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Onionfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Jerusalem artichokethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, ham, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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