Home › The Waldorf Kitchen › Artichokes Raw
Artichokes Raw
A poivrade composed of a mixture of pepper, oil, vinegar and salt is placed on a plate and the artichoke held in the left hand by the tips of the leaves, is cut into slices, successively from the bottom, to each slice is attached a leaf; then holding the leaf between the finger and the thumb, the sliced bottom is dipped into the poivrade and eaten.
This is less a recipe than a table procedure, and it assumes an artichoke most American shoppers never see. The dressing is left to the cook's judgment, so the proportions are yours to set.
- The artichoke matters more than the sauceRaw artichoke is only edible when the bud is young, small and tightly closed, with no developed choke and leaves tender enough to bite through. These are the purple poivrade or baby artichokes sold in spring, roughly the size of an egg. A full-grown globe artichoke eaten raw is fibrous and unpleasant, and its hairy choke is inedible.
- What poivrade means hereThe word covers two different things in French cooking: a brown peppercorn-and-vinegar sauce for game, and this cold vinaigrette sharpened with pepper. Oscar means the second. It is simply a vinaigrette with the pepper pushed forward.
- Proportions for the dressingNone are given. A standard working ratio is three parts oil to one part vinegar, with salt and a great deal of coarsely cracked black pepper; about 3 tablespoons oil and 1 tablespoon wine vinegar per person is ample for dipping.
- Trim firstThe recipe skips the preparation. Snap off the tough outer leaves until you reach the pale tender ones, trim the stem and the top third of the bud, and halve or quarter anything larger than a walnut to check for a choke.
- BrowningCut artichoke oxidises to grey-brown within a minute or two. Rub the cut surfaces with lemon or drop the trimmed pieces into acidulated water, and slice at the table as Oscar describes rather than in advance.
- The slicing methodCutting down from the base so a leaf stays attached to each slice gives you a built-in handle. It only works with a small, tightly furled bud; on a large artichoke the leaves separate and the trick collapses.
- ServingCount two to three small artichokes per person as a first course, with the poivrade in a shallow dish or pooled on the plate as written.
Eating artichokes raw with an oil-and-vinegar dip is a Provençal and Italian habit, tied to the small purple varieties harvested young — in France they are still sold under the name artichauts poivrade, a name traditionally explained by the peppery dressing they are eaten with, though that derivation is customary rather than documented. Oscar Tschirky's book records the Waldorf's European repertoire for an American readership, and this entry is characteristic of it: not a formula with weights, but a note on how a thing is properly done at table, of the kind a maître d'hôtel would need to explain to diners unfamiliar with the dish. Raw artichoke never took hold in the United States the way the boiled, butter-dipped globe did; the small tender buds it requires have not been widely grown here, and the California artichoke fields that expanded in the twentieth century were planted largely to the large green globe.