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ARTICHOKES (a la Barigoule)
Wash and trim three or four artichokes; remove the chokes, and fry the tops of the leaves and the bottoms of the artichokes in hot lard or fat for three or four minutes. Fill the cavities with a forcemeat made with two ounces of finely shred suet, two ounces of undressed veal free from fat or fibre, two ounces of bread-crumbs, two tea-spoonfuls of chopped parsley, a quarter of a tea-spoonful each of marjoram and thyme, half a tea-spoonful of chopped shallot, half a tea-spoonful each of salt, pepper, powdered mace, and grated lemon-rind. Mix thoroughly; then work them together with the yolk of an egg. Fasten a piece of bacon on the top of each artichoke. Bind them with string or tape to keep them in their proper shape. Put them in a stewpan with brown gravy sufficient to cover them. Let them stew gently till tender; remove the strings; put them on a dish with a little of the gravy, thickened, round them. Time to stew, half an hour. Probable cost, 1s. 2d. Sufficient for four persons.
A Victorian stuffed-artichoke braise that works well today, provided you treat the stewing time as a starting point rather than a rule.
- The hinge: stew until a base pierces easilyHalf an hour will not tender a full-grown globe artichoke; reckon on 45 to 60 minutes, covered, at a bare simmer. Test by pushing a knife tip into the fleshy base — it should meet no resistance.
- Which artichokesLarge globe artichokes; the recipe says three or four, and four gives one per person for the four it is said to serve. Trim the stem flat, cut the top third off, snip the leaf tips, and scoop the hairy choke out with a spoon so there is a genuine cavity for the forcemeat.
- Keep them from browningCut artichokes discolour within minutes. Drop the trimmed heads into water with lemon juice until you are ready to fry them.
- "Fry the tops of the leaves and the bottoms"This is a brief sear in hot fat, three or four minutes, to set the surface and add flavour — not a cooking stage. Lard is authentic and works; oil or clarified butter is fine.
- Suet and vealTwo ounces of shredded beef suet gives the forcemeat its richness; packaged shredded suet or finely chopped suet from a butcher both work. "Undressed veal" means raw veal — two ounces, finely chopped or briefly pulsed. Ground pork or veal from the counter is an acceptable substitute.
- MaceGround mace is the outer covering of nutmeg, warmer and less sweet. A quarter teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg stands in if you have none.
- Brown gravyNot modern gravy from a packet but a well-flavoured brown stock or thin espagnole. Good beef or veal stock, enough to cover them as the recipe directs, is the practical equivalent.
- Bacon and stringUse a thin slice of unsmoked streaky bacon or pancetta over each cavity, tied on with kitchen twine. It seals the stuffing in and bastes the top while the artichokes braise.
- Finishing the sauceLift the artichokes out, reduce the braising liquid hard, then thicken with a small beurre manié or a spoonful of cornflour slurry. Serve as a first course or a light main with bread.
Barigoule is a Provençal dish, and the name is generally traced to barigoulo, the Provençal word for a wild mushroom — usually identified as the milk-cap or thistle mushroom — either because the trimmed, hollowed artichoke resembles a mushroom cap or because mushrooms went into the original filling. In Provence the dish is now most often a braise of small purple artichokes with carrot, onion, bacon and white wine; the version Cassell's records is the older, grander line, in which the artichoke is a vessel for a bound forcemeat of suet, veal, herbs and mace and is stewed in brown gravy in the French manner taught to English kitchens through the nineteenth century. The costing — 1s. 2d. for four — is typical of the book, which priced every dish so a housekeeper could weigh it against the week's budget.