Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and flour 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 Artichokes Stewed
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare and cut the Jerusalem artichokes in half.
Cook
Boil them in a little consommé until nearly done and the liquid is almost reduced.
Add a small quantity of fresh butter, coarse sea salt, flour, and cream.
Cook over a fire for five minutes.
Serve
Serve with fried bread around the dish.
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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Jerusalem artichoke + flourtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together116 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Jerusalem artichoke + creamtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together182 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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 and starchy, mild flavour of the dish.
- Consommé
- Cooks the artichokes and reduces to a savoury liquid that flavours them.
- Fresh butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the reduced liquid so it clings to the artichokes.
- Cream
- Adds richness and body, softening the sauce's texture.
The step that matters
Boil until nearly done and the liquid is almost reduced. Overcooking leaves the artichokes mushy and breaking down, while underreducing leaves a thin sauce. Stopping near the end lets the flour and cream finish the texture.
“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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