Home › The Waldorf Kitchen › Artichoke Bottoms for Canapes
Artichoke Bottoms for Canapes
Cook the artichokes, spreading over the bottoms some anchovy butter and decorate with pickled cucumbers, capers or gherkins, anchovies and the white and yolks of hard-boiled eggs. Pour over them a salad dressing and garnish with water cresses.
A terse assembly note rather than a full recipe — Oscar assumed a kitchen that already had cooked artichoke bottoms and anchovy butter on hand. The points below fill in the quantities and steps he left out.
- Artichoke bottomsThese are the fleshy bases of large globe artichokes, trimmed of all leaves and choke. Boil or braise whole artichokes in acidulated water 25-40 minutes until a leaf pulls free, then strip them down; canned or jarred bottoms, drained and patted dry, are a legitimate shortcut.
- Anchovy butterNot a product you will find easily. Mash 4-6 oil-packed anchovy fillets into 4 oz softened unsalted butter with a little lemon juice, then chill until firm enough to spread. Do not add salt.
- "Salad dressing"The recipe does not specify which. A plain oil-and-vinegar dressing suits this assembly, though a mayonnaise or boiled dressing would also have been understood by the term at the time. Use about 3 parts oil to 1 part wine vinegar, and apply it sparingly, or the canapes go soggy and slide.
- Hard-boiled eggsSieve the yolks and chop the whites separately so the two colors stay distinct; that contrast is the whole point of the decoration. Two eggs will dress a dozen bottoms.
- Order of workDry the artichoke bottoms thoroughly before buttering. Any cooking water left in the cup thins the butter and lifts the garnish off.
- TimingAssemble within an hour of serving and keep chilled. Cress wilts fast once dressed, so add it at the last moment.
- YieldFigure one bottom per person as a single canape with drinks, or two or three arranged on a plate as a first course.
Artichoke bottoms as an edible container belong to the classical French repertoire that Oscar Tschirky worked within at the Waldorf; fonds d'artichauts were a standard garnish base in that repertoire, filled with everything from purees to salpicons. Oscar himself was not a chef but the hotel's maitre d'hotel, and much of his 1896 book reads like this, shorthand notes on presentation, written for professionals who already knew how to cook the components and needed only to be told how to arrange them.