Name: Jerusalem Artichokes, a LA Reine
Ingredients: Jerusalem artichokes; ½ cup milk; ½ cup water; ½ cup cream; 2 tablespoons flour; 1½ ounces butter; ¼ teaspoon mace; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt

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, a LA Reine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Wash and wipe the artichokes.
Cut one end of each artichoke flat and trim the other end to a point.

Cook and serve

Boil the artichokes in milk and water until done.
Lift them out and place them upright in a serving dish.
Sauce with cream thickened with flour, mixed with butter, mace, and salt.
If cream is unavailable, use new milk and increase flour and butter.

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).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cream + buttertop 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).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter 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: Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender when boiled until done.
Milk: Provides the liquid for boiling and can stand in for cream in the sauce.
Cream: Enriches the sauce with fat, giving it a smooth, rich texture.
Flour: Thickens the cream into a sauce that coats the artichokes.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, rounding out the flavor of the sauce.

The step that matters

Thickening the cream sauce with flour. Flour must be cooked into the cream, and the sauce kept smooth; otherwise it can turn lumpy or taste raw. Flour starch swells with heat and thickens the liquid, so the sauce needs to be stirred as it warms.

Swap the mace

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

Nutmegfits better
Capersfits better
Cinnamonfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against jerusalem artichoke, milk, cream, flour, butter. 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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Jerusalem Artichokes, a LA Reine