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ARTICHOKES (a la Poivrad)
Take four or five young artichokes; trim them, remove the chokes, cut off the lower leaves, divide the artichokes into four, and throw them into vinegar and cold water to preserve the colour. When wanted, drain them from the vinegar and water, put them into a dish, and serve like radishes. Pepper, salt, oil, and vinegar should be sent to table with them. Probable cost, 2d. to 4d. each. Sufficient for a small side dish.
A raw artichoke dish that depends entirely on the size and freshness of the vegetable. Get it wrong and it is inedible; get it right and it needs nothing but salt and good oil.
- "Young" is the whole recipeThis only works with baby or violet artichokes, picked before the fibres set. A full-grown globe artichoke eaten raw is tough, bitter and choked with inedible hairs. If the market only has large ones, cook them instead and use a different recipe.
- The chokeIn genuinely young artichokes the choke is barely formed and often needs only a nick with the knife tip. Cassell's instruction to remove it is a safeguard, not a major operation.
- TrimmingSnap off the tough outer leaves rather than cutting, pare the stem and base down to the pale flesh, and trim the leaf tips. Anything that is dark green and fibrous should go.
- Vinegar and waterThis is acidulated water to stop the cut surfaces blackening. Lemon juice in cold water works better and leaves no vinegar taste, since the vinegar is served separately at table anyway. Rubbing a cut lemon on your fingers stops them staining too.
- Drain properlyWet artichokes will not take a dressing. Drain and pat dry before they go to the dish, or the oil slides off and pools.
- "Serve like radishes"That means raw, on a dish, with the seasonings alongside for each diner to dip into. Salt and pepper on a small saucer, oil and vinegar in cruets.
- Cost and yieldThe 2d. to 4d. each is Victorian pricing. Four or five heads quartered gives about sixteen to twenty pieces; Cassell's rates this as sufficient for a small side dish.
Poivrade is French for a peppered preparation, and the Provençal habit of eating the small purple-tinged artichokes raw, dipped in salt, pepper and oil, is still current around Marseille and Nice.