Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and parsley share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 70 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Artichokes , Jerusalem, Fried in Batter
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash, peel, and cut the Jerusalem artichokes into pieces the size of an eighth of an orange.
Boil the artichokes in water with 1 tablespoon of vinegar until tender.
Fry and serve
Drain the artichokes and dip each piece into the Frying Batter.
Turn the battered artichokes into boiling lard and fry until light brown.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and serve very hot with fried parsley.
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 + parsleytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together70 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,477 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Jerusalem artichoke + vinegartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together40 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Jerusalem artichokes
- Provide the starchy, tender interior that softens during boiling and frying.
- Frying batter
- Forms a crisp coating that browns and seals in moisture during frying.
- Lard for frying
- Conducts high heat to crisp the batter and brown the outside quickly.
- Vinegar
- Acidifies the boiling water, helping the artichoke pieces hold their shape.
The step that matters
Frying the battered artichokes. Lard must be boiling hot before the battered pieces go in. If the fat is too cool, the batter absorbs oil, becomes greasy and soggy, and the pieces do not brown cleanly.
Swap the jerusalem artichoke
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, parsley):
- Shallotfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Jerusalem artichokethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, 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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