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To Fricassee Jerusalem Artichokes

A fricassee of Jerusalem artichokes simmered in a butter‑flour cream sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and nutmeg share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 48 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

To Fricassee Jerusalem Artichokes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the artichokes

  1. Wash and scrape or pare the Jerusalem artichokes.

  2. Boil them in milk and water until soft, about 15 to 30 minutes.

  3. Remove them from the pot and set aside.

Make the sauce

  1. In a pan, roll the butter in flour until combined, then mix the butter-flour mixture with the cream or milk.

  2. Season the sauce with white pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg.

Finish and serve

  1. Stew the artichokes in the sauce for a few minutes.

  2. Serve plain boiled with melted butter poured over them.

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. Jerusalem artichoke + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together48 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Walnut + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Jerusalem artichoke + walnuttop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Jerusalem artichoke + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together116 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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 vegetable base that the sauce coats and carries.
Flour
Thickens the butter and cream sauce so it clings to the artichokes.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and giving the sauce a smooth mouthfeel.
Cream or milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding body and mild sweetness.

The step that matters

Stirring the butter-flour mixture into the cream. Flour must be fully cooked into the butter and whisked smoothly into the liquid; if added in lumps or left underheated, the sauce stays grainy and tastes of raw starch.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (jerusalem artichoke, milk, walnut, butter, flour, cream, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against jerusalem artichoke, milk, walnut, butter, flour, cream, nutmeg. 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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