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Artichokes, Boiled
Soak the artichokes, and wash them in several waters to expel any insects. Cut the stalks even, and trim away the lower leaves and the ends from the upper one. Boil them in plenty of salted water with the tops downwards, and let them remain until the leaves can be easily drawn out. Send a little Dutch sauce to table with them. Boiled artichokes often form a separate dish. The leaves should be pulled out with the fingers, dipped in the sauce, and carried to the mouth. Time, if young, about half an hour; longer, if old. Allow one for each person. Probable cost, from 2d. to 4d. each.
A straightforward globe artichoke preparation that needs little translation, though a few of its assumptions have shifted.
- The artichoke in questionThis is the globe artichoke, not the Jerusalem artichoke, which is a sunflower tuber and appears elsewhere in the book. Look for heads that squeak when squeezed and whose leaves are tight rather than splayed.
- The soakWashing "in several waters to expel any insects" reflects garden produce that arrived unwashed. A half-hour soak in cold water with a little vinegar or lemon juice still does the job on supermarket heads and helps flush grit from between the leaves.
- TrimmingSnip the thorny tips from the outer leaves with scissors and rub all cut surfaces with a lemon half; artichoke flesh browns within minutes of being cut. The stalk is edible if peeled, though the original wants it cut flush so the head sits upright.
- Tops downwardsBoiling stem-up keeps the head submerged and the leaf tips from bobbing above the water. Use a plate or a heatproof lid pressed onto the artichokes to hold them under, and a non-reactive pan, since aluminium and cast iron will grey the leaves.
- TimingThe recipe gives about half an hour for young heads and longer for older ones; smaller heads from a modern market are often done in 20 to 25 minutes. The stated test is the reliable one, an outer leaf pulling free with slight resistance.
- Dutch sauceGenerally the older English name for what is now called hollandaise, an emulsion of egg yolk, butter and lemon or vinegar, though period versions vary and some are thickened with flour. Melted butter with lemon, or a vinaigrette, serves the same purpose and holds better if the meal is delayed.
- The chokeThe book says nothing about it. The hairy choke sitting on the heart is inedible and must be scraped out with a spoon once the leaves have been eaten, or removed before serving.
- YieldOne head per person; the recipe notes that boiled artichokes often form a separate dish. Provide finger bowls and a communal dish for the stripped leaves.
Globe artichokes were a long-established garden vegetable in Britain by the time Cassell's appeared, grown in kitchen gardens since the sixteenth century. The pricing here, two to four pence each, places them among the more expensive vegetables of the late Victorian table. The note that leaves should be pulled out with the fingers is characteristic of the book's readership: an eating method that broke the ordinary rules of the dinner table needed explicit sanction in print. "Dutch sauce" was the standard English name for what is now called hollandaise, and the two terms sat side by side in cookery books through the nineteenth century before the French name won out.