Name: Jerusalem Artichokes Stewed
Ingredients: Jerusalem artichokes; ½ cup consomme; 2 tablespoons fresh butter; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 tablespoon flour; ½ cup cream; fried bread for serving

Why it works: Jerusalem artichoke and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 116 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Jerusalem Artichokes Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Pare and cut the Jerusalem artichokes into halves.

Cook

Boil them in the consommé until nearly done and the liquid is almost reduced.
Add the butter, salt, flour, and cream.
Cook over medium heat for five minutes.

Serve

Serve with fried bread on the side.

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.

Jerusalem artichoke + flourtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together116 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Jerusalem artichoke + creamtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together182 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 body and starchy, earthy bulk of the stew.
Consomme: Supplies the cooking liquid that gently softens the artichokes and adds savoury flavour.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the sauce.
Flour: Thickens the liquid so it coats the artichokes rather than running thin.
Cream: Adds body and richness, helping the liquid turn silky and thicker.

The step that matters

Reducing the liquid before adding the dairy. Boiling the artichokes until the consommé is nearly reduced concentrates flavour. Adding flour and cream to a thin, watery liquid can leave the sauce diluted or grainy, so the liquid should be thick before the final thickening stage.

“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.