Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms, Italian Style
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Prepare the artichokes by removing the leaves and trimming the bottoms.
Stuff and bake
Stuff each artichoke with the chicken or veal mixture.
Add the cooked herbs to each stuffed artichoke.
Sprinkle fresh bread crumbs over each stuffed artichoke.
Drizzle sweet oil over the bread crumbs.
Place the artichokes in a pan.
Cover the artichokes with light Espagnole sauce.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until they are nicely browned.
Make the sauce and serve
In a separate bowl, mix the sauce with butter, lemon juice, and chopped parsley.
Serve a teaspoonful of the sauce over each artichoke and the rest on the side.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Artichoke + lemontop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together636 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Artichoke + parsleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together524 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Artichokes
- Form the vessel that holds the stuffing and cooks to a tender base.
- Chicken or veal forced meat
- Provides a savoury, moist filling that sets as it cooks.
- Fresh bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden topping that browns in the oven.
- Sweet oil
- Adds fat that helps the crumbs brown evenly.
- Light espagnole sauce
- Adds moisture and a rich savoury base around the artichokes as they bake.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finishing sauce.
The step that matters
Bake in a slow oven until nicely browned. A slow oven cooks the stuffing through and tenderises the artichokes without drying them out. Browning comes from the oil and crumbs, so the cook should watch colour rather than rely only on time.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (artichoke, meat, bread, sauce, butter, parsley):
- Lemonthe original
- Avocadofits about as well
- Limefits less well
- Cherryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against artichoke, meat, bread, sauce, butter, 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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