Why it works: Artichoke and chive share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 59 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Artichokes, Stuffed
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the stuffing
Trim and wash the artichokes; remove the choke from the center.
Mince the ham and warm it.
Chop the mushrooms finely and add to the ham along with parsley, chives, salt, and pepper.
Mix in the bread crumbs and moisten with clear soup or hot water to form a paste.
Stuff and steam
Fill the artichokes with the stuffing and tie them neatly.
Place the artichokes in a pan with a little butter and a pint of clear soup.
Cover the pan and steam the artichokes in their own vapors until tender.
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 + chivetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together59 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,150 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Artichoke + parsleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together524 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Artichokes
- Form the edible base that holds the stuffing and becomes tender when steamed.
- Ham
- Adds savory, salty flavor and meaty richness to the stuffing.
- Mushrooms
- Add moisture and earthy flavor to the stuffing.
- Bread crumbs
- Bind the stuffing into a paste and absorb the moisture from the soup.
- Butter
- Adds fat and rich flavor to the cooking liquid.
The step that matters
Steam until tender. Cooking covered in their own vapors heats the artichokes gently and evenly. Stopping too early leaves the tough base and thick leaves unpleasantly firm, while overcooking makes them mushy.
Swap the chive
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (artichoke, ham, mushroom, parsley, pepper, bread, butter):
- Shallotfits better
- Spinachfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Chivethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against artichoke, ham, mushroom, parsley, pepper, bread, butter. 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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