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Scalloped Artichokes

A baked dish of sliced Jerusalem artichokes layered with white sauce, anchovy essence, cayenne, and buttered breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and anchovy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Scalloped Artichokes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Peel the artichokes, boil them, and cut into evenly sized slices.

  2. Butter three or four scallop shells with 1 oz of butter.

  3. Melt the remaining 1 oz of butter and mix in enough bread crumbs to absorb it.

  4. Line the shells with a layer of the buttered crumbs.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a bowl, season the artichoke slices with anchovy essence, cayenne, and white sauce.

  2. Layer the artichokes and sauce in the shells, then cover with buttered crumbs.

  3. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Arrange the shells on a dish with fancy paper beneath and garnish with parsley before serving.

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. Sauce + anchovytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Jerusalem artichoke + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together70 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Anchovy + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Jerusalem artichokes
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender when boiled and then baked.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the crumbs and helps them turn golden in the oven.
White sauce
Binds the artichoke slices and keeps them moist during baking.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping and absorb the melted butter.

The step that matters

Covering the shells with buttered crumbs. Crumbs that are not evenly coated with butter can stay pale or dry, while the sauce underneath needs a sealed top to stay moist as the dish bakes.

Swap the jerusalem artichoke

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sauce, anchovy, bread, pepper, parsley):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Jerusalem artichokethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sauce, anchovy, bread, pepper, parsley. 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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