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Cardoons

A stew of cardoons, bacon, stock, wine, broth, Spanish sauce, and ox-marrow served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cardoon and sauce work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 48 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cardoons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cardoons

  1. Cut the cardoons into equal-length pieces.

  2. Blanch the cardoons in slightly acidulated scalding water.

  3. Trim off the prickles, rub off the skin and slime.

  4. Soak the cardoons in cold water for a few minutes.

  5. Drain the cardoons.

Braise

  1. Place the cardoons in a stewpan, covering them with slices of bacon.

  2. Moisten the cardoons with equal parts white stock, white wine, and white broth to their height.

  3. Boil the cardoons until tender.

  4. Drain the cooked cardoons.

Prepare the marrow

  1. Blanch the ox-marrow.

  2. Drain the ox-marrow well.

  3. Cut the ox-marrow into small pieces.

Plate and serve

  1. Lay the cardoons flat on a silver vegetable dish.

  2. Pour hot Spanish sauce over the cardoons.

  3. Surround the cardoons with fried three-corner meat cakes.

  4. Fill the center with balls of the marrow.

  5. Serve very hot.

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. Cardoon + saucetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together48 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. White wine + saucetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together819 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Cardoon + white winetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6 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

Cardoons
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender and mild when blanched and braised.
Bacon
Adds smoky, savoury fat and flavour to the cardoons as they cook.
White stock
Provides savoury liquid that cooks the cardoons and builds a rich, seasoned base.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the braising liquid, balancing the richness.
Ox-marrow
Contributes rich, buttery fat that gives the centre balls a smooth, luscious texture.

The step that matters

Blanch the cardoons in slightly acidulated scalding water. Cardoons discolour and turn bitter if left raw or unacidulated. A brief scald in acidulated water helps keep them pale and tames their bitterness before braising.

“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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