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Puree of Artichokes

A smooth puree made from Jerusalem artichokes, onion, celery, herbs, stock, milk, cream, and potato flour, served with croutons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and celery share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 75 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Puree of Artichokes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the artichokes and onion thinly.

  2. Fry them in a little butter until pale golden.

Make the puree

  1. Add the stock and milk to the saucepan and cook for 30 minutes, skimming occasionally.

  2. Pass the mixture through a sieve.

  3. Mix the potato flour with the cream and add it to the puree.

  4. Return to the heat and boil for a few minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve with croutons.

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. Jerusalem artichoke + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together75 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Jerusalem artichoke + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together116 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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 earthy flavour of the puree once cooked and sieved.
Potato flour
Thickens the puree as it boils, giving it a smooth, body-rich texture.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished puree.
Milk
Adds moisture and mild sweetness, softening the puree into a smooth consistency.

The step that matters

Boiling after adding the potato flour. Potato starch only thickens fully when it is heated past its gelatinisation point, so the puree must boil for a few minutes after the flour and cream go in. Stopping early leaves it thin and possibly starchy-tasting.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (jerusalem artichoke, celery, milk, cream, potato, flour, pepper):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against jerusalem artichoke, celery, milk, cream, potato, flour, pepper. 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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