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Artichoke Soup

A soup made from young artichokes, water, milk, butter, salt, pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Artichoke Soup

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Artichoke Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scrape the artichokes and place them in cold water immediately.

  2. In a pot, bring enough water to cover the artichokes to a boil.

Cook and purée

  1. Add the salt and the artichokes, then boil quickly until done.

  2. Rub the cooked artichokes through a fine sieve.

  3. Add the liquid from boiling the artichokes and bring to a boil.

Finish

  1. Stir in the milk, pepper, and butter, then reheat without boiling again.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Artichoke + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,170 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Artichoke + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together893 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Artichokes
Provide the main body and flavor, and form the purée once rubbed through a sieve.
Liquid from boiling artichokes
Carries artichoke flavor and thins the purée to a soup consistency.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a mild sweetness that softens the vegetable flavor.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Reheat the milk without boiling. Boiling milk can make its proteins clump and the texture grainy or separated. Gentle heat after adding the milk, pepper and butter keeps the soup smooth and creamy.

“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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