No. 2691

Artichokes-Whole-Boiled, with White or Vinaigrette Sauce

Artichauts Entiers Bouillis, a la Sauce Blanche ou a la Vinaigrette

Select artichokes of a medium size; remove the hardest leaves from the base, pare the bottoms well, suppressing all the green part, then cut off the tips of each leaf straight (see Fig. 543). Put them into a saucepan of boiling salted water and cook until the leaves detach, then drain, remove the choke, and washing them in their own liquor range them on a napkin bottom downward to have them drain thoroughly; serve at the same time either a white sauce (No. 562) or else a vinaigrette sauce (No. 634).

Boiled and cold artichokes are served with a vinaigrette sauce.

← No. 2690 Artichokes-Whole-a la Rachel Artichokes & Asparagus No. 2692 Boiled Asparagus with Hollandaise, Hollandai →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes a cook who knows what a trimmed artichoke looks like and how long one takes. Two details carry the dish: cutting the bottom clean of green, and testing for doneness at the base rather than the leaves.

The hinge: pare to the pale flesh"Suppressing all the green part" of the bottom means cutting away the dark fibrous exterior until only the pale, tender base shows. Any green left behind stays tough and stringy no matter how long it boils.
Acidulate as you goCut surfaces blacken within a minute. Rub each artichoke with a lemon half as you trim, and hold the trimmed ones in lemon water until they go into the pot.
TimingNo time is given. Medium globe artichokes take roughly 25 to 40 minutes at a bare simmer depending on size and age. The leaf test in the original is a rough guide; better to pierce the base with a thin knife, which should meet no resistance.
Keep them submergedArtichokes float. Lay a plate or a round of parchment on top so the tops do not steam-cook while the bottoms boil, or they will finish unevenly.
Pan materialBare cast iron and unlined aluminium will turn boiled artichokes grey. Use stainless steel or enamelled cast iron.
Removing the chokeDone after cooking, as written, and much easier then: spread the centre leaves, pull out the pale cone, and scrape the hairy choke free with a teaspoon. The "washing them in their own liquor" step rinses out stray fibres without diluting the flavour.
Draining bottom downwardInverting on a napkin is not decoration. An artichoke holds a surprising amount of water in its cup, and undrained ones will thin whatever sauce you serve.
The two saucesNo. 562 is Ranhofer's white sauce and No. 634 his vinaigrette; a modern velouté and an oil-and-vinegar dressing with seasoning and herbs will stand in. The original offers either sauce with the hot artichokes, and specifies vinaigrette for cold ones.
YieldRoughly one medium artichoke per person as a first course; the original gives no quantities.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's summation of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its vegetable chapters read like a catalogue of what a well-supplied American kitchen could get by the end of the century. The globe artichoke is a Mediterranean cultivated thistle, long a staple of Italian, Provenor its arrival in French court cuisine is traditionally credited to Catherine de' Medici, though that story is repeated far more often than it is documented. The commercial fields of coastal California that now supply most of the American crop came later. The cross-reference numbers to sauces No. 562 and No. 634 show how the book was meant to be used: as a working system for a brigade, not a set of standalone recipes, with the same vinaigrette serving other cold dishes elsewhere in the volume.