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ARTICHOKES, FRIED (a la Gouffe)
Wash and trim three young, freshly-cut artichokes. Cut them into thin slices, and as they are cut throw them into water with a cupful of vinegar in it; this is to preserve the colour. Drain them, and season them with a pinch of salt and the same of pepper. Make a batter with three eggs, two table-spoonfuls of oil, and two of flour. When all are well mixed, put the slices of artichoke into it, and stir it gently for three or four minutes, until every piece of artichoke is well covered. Fry gently in hot fat, being careful that the vegetable is cooked throughout as well as browned. Drain off the fat, pile the slices on a napkin, and garnish with a little fried parsley. Time to fry, a quarter of an hour. Probable cost, 2d. or 3d. per pound. Sufficient for two or three persons.
A straightforward fritto of globe artichoke in a loose egg batter, from the repertoire of Jules Gouffé. Two things decide the result: the age of the artichokes and the temperature of the fat.
- Which artichokesThese are globe artichokes, and "young, freshly-cut" is doing real work — the recipe assumes heads small enough that the hairy choke has not yet formed and the stem is tender. Baby or violet artichokes, around 2-3 oz each, can be sliced and fried straight. Full-size mature heads must have the choke scooped out and the slices parboiled or they will still be woody when the coating is dark.
- TrimmingStrip the tough outer bracts back to the pale green, cut off the top third, peel the stem, then slice lengthwise about 1/8 inch thick so each piece carries a bit of heart and stem.
- The vinegar waterCut surfaces oxidise within a minute. A cupful of vinegar in a bowl of water is more acid than needed — the juice of a lemon per quart does the same job. Drain and pat thoroughly dry, or the batter will slide off.
- The batter is deliberately thinThree eggs to two tablespoons of flour and two of oil gives a slack coating, closer to a pastella than a fritter batter. It clings as a film rather than a shell, which is the point. If it seems too loose to hold, add flour a teaspoon at a time; do not turn it into a thick jacket.
- Fat temperatureThe recipe says only "hot fat". In modern terms something around 340-350F suits: much below and the slices absorb oil; much above and the egg coating colours before the artichoke is tender. Work in small batches so the temperature does not crash.
- A quarter of an hour is too longA quarter of an hour is long -- The recipe's "Time to fry, a quarter of an hour" may refer to the whole quantity rather than to a single slice; the text does not say. Thin slices of young artichoke are done in 3-4 minutes and will be leathery well before fifteen. Judge by a paring knife going through the stem end without resistance.
- Fried parsleyDry the sprigs completely on a cloth first — wet parsley in hot fat spits violently. Thirty seconds is enough; it should stay green, not brown.
- ServingThe napkin is a Victorian draining device and a serving one; a folded cloth or paper on a warm dish does the same. Salt the moment the slices come out of the fat. Serves two or three as a first course, with lemon.
- The cost line"2d. or 3d. per pound" is pre-decimal British currency and tells you only that artichokes were then a cheap market vegetable in season, not an expensive one.
The attribution is to Jules Gouffé (1807-1877), chef of the Paris Jockey Club and author of Le Livre de Cuisine (1867), whose work was translated into English by his brother Alphonse, pastry chef to Queen Victoria; his name on a dish in a late-Victorian English compendium like Cassell's functioned as a mark of French professional authority. Frying sliced young artichokes in a light egg batter is far older than Gouffé and belongs to the Mediterranean kitchen generally — the Italian carciofi fritti rests on the same principle, that a head small enough to have no choke can be eaten whole, leaves and all; the Roman Jewish carciofi alla giudia, fried without batter, works from the same starting point. The globe artichoke reached English gardens in the sixteenth century and was well established in kitchen gardens by the nineteenth, and the recipe quotes a price per pound.