No. 2677

Artichoke Bottoms a la Florence

Fonds d'Artichauts a la Florence

Prepare and cook some artichoke bottoms the same as for la Villars (No. 2682); fill the hollow in the center with minced truffles and mushrooms fried in butter, this to be drained off and the preparation mingled with well-reduced allemande sauce (No. 407); let get cold after they are filled dome form, and smooth neatly with a knife; then lay them on a buttered sheet, bestrew with breadcrumbs and grated parmesan, pour butter over and color in a hot oven. Dress them in a circle, filling the center with blanched artichoke bottoms, cut in six parts, pared and cooked in butter; pour over a buttered supreme sauce (No. 547) and send to the table.

← No. 2676 Water Cress and Apple Salad and Nonpareil [c Artichokes & Asparagus No. 2678 Artichoke Bottoms a la Jussienne →

For the Modern Kitchen

A garnish course from Ranhofer's kitchen, built on two mother-sauce derivatives and written for cooks who had both already simmering. The work is in the preparation, not the assembly, and it leans on cross-references the page does not show.

Cross-referencesNos. 2682, 407 and 547 are elsewhere in the book. The Villars recipe is not reproduced here; artichoke bottoms in the book are generally turned, rubbed with lemon and simmered until tender in a blanc — water with flour whisked in, lemon juice, salt and a little fat — which keeps them pale. Allemande (No. 407) is velouté finished with egg yolk and cream and reduced thick; sauce suprême (No. 547) is chicken velouté enriched with cream and, at the end, butter.
Artichoke bottomsFonds are the fleshy base left when the leaves, choke and stem are cut away from large globe artichokes — count on one bottom per artichoke, so a dozen artichokes for a dozen bottoms. Canned or frozen bottoms are a legitimate shortcut for the cut-in-six garnish in the center, though they are softer and will not hold a dome as well.
The hinge: chill before crumbingThe filling must be reduced stiff and then thoroughly cold before it is smoothed into a dome. A warm or loose allemande will slump the moment the butter and heat hit it, and the crumb crust will slide off in one piece.
A hot ovenRead this as 425-450F, and only long enough to color the crumbs and parmesan — five to eight minutes. A broiler works as well and gives more control, since the point is surface color, not reheating the interior through.
TrufflesBlack truffle, minced and cooked in butter with the mushrooms; in 1890s New York this may well have been preserved rather than fresh truffle. Preserved truffle peelings or a small amount of truffle in place of some of the mushroom is the honest modern substitute; truffle oil behaves nothing like it under heat.
"Drained off"After frying the truffle and mushroom duxelles, drain away the butter before folding in the sauce. Left in, the fat breaks the allemande and the filling will weep in the oven.
Buttered sheetA buttered baking sheet in 1894; use a parchment-lined or buttered sheet pan. Space the bottoms so the crumbs brown rather than steam.
Yield and serviceFigure two filled bottoms per person as a vegetable course, about six portions from a dozen, with further bottoms needed for the cut-in-six garnish in the center. Both sauces and the ring arrangement mean it should go to the table immediately — suprême finished with butter will separate if held hot.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows the house method plainly: a vegetable treated as a formal course, dressed en couronne in a ring with a garnish at the center, and sauced from the same stockpot that supplied the rest of the menu. The dish names in the book are largely dedications and stylings in the French manner — à la Florence, à la Villars, à la Jussienne — and are best read as labels distinguishing one artichoke-bottom treatment from the others Ranhofer catalogues, rather than as evidence of Italian or personal origin. Artichoke bottoms were prized in nineteenth-century restaurant cooking, and it is often suggested that their very wastefulness was part of the appeal: a large artichoke yields one neat cup, and serving a dozen of them announced a kitchen with staff to trim them and a clientele to pay for it.