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Artichoke Bottoms for Garnish
Cut off all the top leaves and trim the under ones, put into a saucepan of slightly salted water, and boil until the skin can be easily removed. Then remove, skin, trim and turn them, and place in a saucepan with some flour, water, salt, lemon and butter, and cook until tender. Remove the pan from the fire, and let them get quite cold in the mixture, and take out when wanted.
A working prep note rather than a dish: this is the standard method for holding artichoke bottoms ready for garnishing, and it assumes a cook who already knows the knife work. The quantities are left entirely to judgment, so the notes below fill in the numbers.
- "Turn them" means shape with a knifeTo turn an artichoke is to pare the base into a smooth, even disc with a small knife, following the curve so no green or fibrous outer flesh is left. It is the hinge of the whole recipe: anything tough or dark you leave behind will still be tough and dark after cooking.
- The chokeThe recipe says nothing about scraping out the hairy choke. It is removed with a spoon after the first boil, when it lifts away cleanly; raw it fights back.
- The flour and water is a blancRoughly 2 tablespoons flour whisked smooth into 1 quart cold water, with the juice of a lemon, a teaspoon of salt and an ounce of butter. The flour film shields the cut surfaces from air and keeps the bottoms pale ivory instead of grey-brown.
- Two stages of cookingThe first boil is the shorter of the two, and goes only until the outer skin slips, as the recipe says. The second, in the blanc, runs perhaps 15 to 25 minutes at a bare simmer depending on size; test with a knife tip at the thickest point.
- Cooling in the liquidLetting them go cold in the blanc is not idleness. They keep absorbing the seasoned liquid and stay submerged, which prevents the oxidation that turns a trimmed bottom slate-coloured within minutes of exposure.
- StorageCovered in their liquid and refrigerated, they hold three or four days. The original says only to let them go cold and take them out when wanted; a modern cook should keep them chilled rather than standing at room temperature.
- YieldLarge globe artichokes give one bottom each, about 2 to 3 inches across. Figure one or two per plate as a garnish, filled with peas, purees or a small salad.
Oscar Tschirky, the Swiss-born ma"tre d'h"tel whose name sold this 1896 book, was not a chef but he collected the working methods of a hotel kitchen that cooked in the French manner, and this entry is pure French garde-manger practice. The blanc " a thin flour-and-lemon bath used for artichokes, salsify, cardoons and calf's head " was a standard of the professional kitchen precisely because a large hotel had to hold prepared vegetables through long service periods without them discolouring. Artichoke bottoms in particular were a mark of expensive cooking: each one takes an entire artichoke and several minutes of skilled paring, and they turn up throughout the period's grand menus as edible cups for peas, foie gras, or a spoonful of b"arnaise alongside a tournedos. The recipe's silence about quantities is characteristic of the whole book, which was written for people who already knew how to cook and only needed reminding of the order of operations.