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Artichoke Bottoms, with Parmesan Cheese

Artichoke bottoms topped with croutons, Bechamel sauce, parmesan cheese, salt, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Artichoke and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,170 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Artichoke Bottoms, with Parmesan Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the artichokes

  1. If using fresh artichokes, remove the leaves and chokes, then trim the bottoms into good shapes.

  2. Put the artichoke bottoms into boiling salted water and boil until tender, then drain them.

Prepare the base

  1. Cut the required number of croutons from bread and fry them until pale golden.

  2. Butter a fireproof dish and lay the croutons side by side.

Assemble and finish

  1. When the artichokes are ready, stand each one on a crouton.

  2. Pour the Bechamel or veloute sauce over the artichokes.

  3. Sprinkle with cayenne and salt to taste.

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. Artichoke + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,170 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Artichoke + parmesan cheesetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together326 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Artichoke + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together175 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Parmesan cheese + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together577 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Artichoke bottoms
Form the tender base that the sauce and cheese are served on.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury, salty flavour and browns when heated.
Bechamel or veloute sauce
Provides creamy moisture that coats the artichokes and keeps them from drying out.
Fried bread croutons
Give a crisp, golden base that holds each artichoke upright.

The step that matters

Boil the artichoke bottoms until just tender. Overcooking makes the artichoke soft and watery, while undercooking leaves it fibrous. Draining well keeps excess water from diluting the sauce.

“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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