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Jerusalem Artichoke

A creamy stew of Jerusalem artichokes simmered in milk with onion, butter, flour, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and jerusalem artichoke match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 116 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Jerusalem Artichoke

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a stewpan, combine the cubed Jerusalem artichokes and cover with milk.

  2. Add the small onion and cook for 20 minutes.

  3. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and flour, then stir into the boiling milk.

  4. Season with salt and pepper, and continue cooking for an additional 30 minutes in a double boiler.

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. Flour + jerusalem artichoketop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together116 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Onion + jerusalem artichoketop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together140 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 of the stew and a mild, starchy texture as they soften in the milk.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the stew and, as it simmers, gives a rich, creamy body.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the milk as it heats, giving the stew a smooth, creamy consistency.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and combines with the flour to help the thickening blend smoothly.

The step that matters

Stirring the butter and flour into the boiling milk. Flour clumps if added raw to hot liquid. Beating it with butter first creates a smooth paste that disperses evenly, and stirring keeps the thickening lump-free.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, flour, pepper, jerusalem artichoke. 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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