Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and artichoke share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 31 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Jerusalem Artichokes, Puree for Garniture
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel, wash, and slice the Jerusalem artichokes.
Cook
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the sliced artichokes. Toss over medium heat for a few minutes.
Moisten with enough broth to cover the artichokes. Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar. Cook until the broth is reduced.
Add the cream sauce.
Purée and finish
Rub through a fine sieve.
Return to a flat saucepan. Reduce with a little cream to desired consistency.
Before serving, stir in a small piece of butter and a few drops of meat glaze.
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 + artichoketop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together31 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Artichoke + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,170 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Jerusalem artichokes
- Provide the main bulk and starchy, earthy flavour of the purée.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the purée.
- Cream sauce
- Adds body and creaminess, giving the purée a smooth, rich texture.
- Cream
- Thins the purée to the desired consistency while adding richness.
The step that matters
Rub through a fine sieve. Jerusalem artichokes are fibrous, so pressing them through a fine sieve removes stringy pieces and gives the smooth texture a purée needs.
Swap the jerusalem artichoke
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, artichoke, pepper, sugar, cream, sauce, meat):
- Jerusalem artichokethe original
- Shallotfits about as well
- Mustardfits less well
- Spinachfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, artichoke, pepper, sugar, cream, sauce, meat. 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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