No. 704

Puree of Artichoke Bottoms and Jerusalem Artichokes

Puree de Fonds d'Artichauts et de Topinambours

Cut out two pounds of artichoke bottoms, and blanch them in salted water, drain and mince up fine; lay this into four ounces of butter, but do not let color, then drain off the butter, and moisten with a quart of broth (No. 189); let cook slowly until the bottoms are done, and when the moisture is reduced, add one pint of bechamel (No. 409), and reduce the preparation once more, but without ceasing to stir for an instant until it becomes consistent. Season, rub through a sieve and put this puree into a saucepan to heat while stirring, but it must not boil. Just when ready to serve add four ounces of fine butter. Prepare the Jerusalem artichokes exactly the same, the only difference being that they are peeled and minced raw before frying them in butter, then finish exactly the same as for the artichoke bottoms; all purees for garnishing, should be of such consistency as not to spread.

← No. 703 Provencal Garnishing Garnishings No. 705 Puree of Asparagus →

For the Modern Kitchen

A classic garnish purée in two versions, built the nineteenth-century way: sweat in butter, cook down in stock, bind with béchamel, sieve, finish with more butter. The whole point is thickness — it has to sit on the plate without running.

The hinge: never let it boil after the sieveOnce the purée goes back in the pan it is reheated only, and the final four ounces of butter go in off the heat or at the barest simmer. Boiling a butter-and-béchamel purée breaks the emulsion and gives you a greasy, grainy surface.
Two pounds of artichoke bottomsThat is trimmed weight, not whole artichokes — reckon on a dozen or more large globes to get there. Frozen or jarred (brine-packed, well rinsed) artichoke bottoms are a legitimate substitute; the frozen ones, at least, were not an option for Ranhofer.
Blanching and discolorationCut bottoms go black fast. Hold them in water sharpened with lemon juice, and add lemon to the blanching water as well; the salted water in the original will not prevent browning on its own.
Topinambours are sunchokesJerusalem artichokes have no relation to globe artichokes. They are peeled and minced raw here because they cook quickly and sweeten in butter. They also oxidize very quickly once peeled — acidulated water again.
The cross-referencesNo. 189 is one of Ranhofer's broths; any unsalted light chicken or veal stock stands in. No. 409 is béchamel, a white roux loosened with milk — one pint of a medium-thick sauce.
"Do not let color"This is a sweat, not a fry. Keep the pan below a sizzle and covered if need be; browned artichoke gives the finished purée a muddy taste and a grey cast.
Draining off the butterThe four ounces used for sweating are poured away before the broth goes in, so the purée is not overloaded with fat before the final mounting. Save it — it is well flavored and good for cooking.
Rubbing through a sieveA drum sieve and a plastic scraper does this properly; a food mill on the fine plate is faster. A blender tends to give a slick, over-smooth texture rather than a short one.
Consistency and yield"Not to spread" means a purée that holds a spoon-drawn line. If it slackens, keep reducing over low heat, stirring constantly. The finished quantity depends on how far it is taken down; the recipe gives no yield.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of the kitchen he ran at Delmonico's in New York, and its garnishing section is essentially a parts catalogue: purées, salpicons and ragoûts to be spooned around a joint or piped into cases rather than served on their own. That is why the recipe ends with a rule about consistency rather than a serving suggestion — the purée had to sit beside a roast without bleeding into the sauce. The French name pairs two unrelated plants. Fonds d'artichauts are the fleshy bases of the globe artichoke, a Mediterranean thistle; topinambours are the tubers of a North American sunflower, and the name is generally traced to the Tupinambá, a Brazilian people whose delegation was in Paris around the time the tuber arrived in France in the early seventeenth century. The English "Jerusalem artichoke" is usually explained as a corruption of the Italian girasole, sunflower, though the etymology is traditional rather than settled. Ranhofer treats them as interchangeable in method because both cook to the same soft, faintly sweet, nutty pulp.