Why it works: Artichoke and shallot share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 97 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Baked Artichokes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the artichokes
Boil the artichokes for 1.5 hours.
Drain and dry the artichokes thoroughly.
Wrap a slice of pork around each artichoke.
Place a slice of onion on top of each artichoke.
Stand the artichokes in a baking dish.
Make the filling
In a frying pan, combine bacon, shallots, mushrooms, parsley, and stock.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into the center of the artichokes, replacing the onion slice.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 45 minutes.
Remove the pork slices.
Fill the centers with sauce Hollandaise.
Serve.
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.
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Artichoke + shallottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together97 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,737 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Artichoke + parsleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together524 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,982 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pork + mushroomtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Artichokes
- Hold the filling and cook to tender, edible hearts as the main vegetable.
- Pork
- Wrapped around the artichokes, it adds savory meat flavor and moisture while baking.
- Bacon
- Renders fat into the filling, adding smoky, savory flavor.
- Mushrooms
- Add earthy moisture and savory depth to the filling as they cook down.
- Shallots
- Add a mild, sweet onion flavor that blends into the filling.
- Stock
- Moistens the filling and carries flavor into the artichoke centers as it cooks.
The step that matters
Drain and dry the artichokes thoroughly. Excess water left on the artichokes dilutes the filling and can make the pork wrap steam rather than brown and season the surface. Drying them well keeps the filling concentrated and the flavors focused.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (artichoke, pork, shallot, mushroom, parsley, sauce):
- Chivefits better
- Welsh onionfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against artichoke, pork, shallot, mushroom, parsley, sauce. 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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