Name: Fricasseed Artichokes
Ingredients: Artichokes; water; pinch of salt; 1 tablespoon essence of spinach; rich white sauce; cold boiled chicken

Why it works: Artichoke and spinach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 192 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Fricasseed Artichokes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the artichokes as for frying.
Boil the artichokes until tender.
Transfer them to cold water for a few moments.
Stew the artichokes in a rich white sauce with cold boiled chicken cut into 1-inch pieces.

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.

Artichoke + spinachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together192 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Spinach + chickentop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,146 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Artichoke + saucetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together462 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Artichoke + chickentop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together313 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Spinach + saucetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together756 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).