Chef Juliette
Suet Dumpling
Boulettes au suif, poached beside salt beef, turn equal weights of flour and finely chopped suet into tender, rich dumplings. Keep the beef liquor at a bare tremble and the old garnish works beautifully at home.
Culinary Explorer
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Purée de Crosnes
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2131, Purée de Crosnes, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Crosnes and potato become one pale, supple purée, but only after the hot sieve and a fierce pan have driven off their water before milk and butter return.
Side Dishes
French
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
Make Ahead
25 min
Active Time
25 min cook•50 min total
Yield4 servings
Purée de crosnes (Chinese artichoke purée) teaches the discipline behind every fine vegetable purée: water must leave before richness can enter. Crosnes hold more moisture than their pearly little tubers suggest, and one part potato to four parts crosnes gives body without stealing their sweet, nutty character. The one true thing to know before touching the pan is this: drying the sieved purée is not a tidying step. It is the dish.
This entry needs neither a stockpot nor a salamander, but it did assume a brigade cook free to press a large hot batch through a tamis (drum sieve), dry it over a fierce range, and send it out at once in a timbale. At home, 600 grams of crosnes with 150 grams of potato preserves the exact ratio; a sturdy fine-mesh sieve replaces the tamis, medium-high heat under a broad saucepan supplies fierce evaporation without scorching the smaller batch, and a warm serving bowl replaces the formal timbale. The extra hand and formal vessel are scaffolding. The hot sieve and decisive drying stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
When it is right, the purée sits in a pale, supple mound with a satin butter sheen, neither runny nor stiff. Press the vegetables through the sieve while they are hot, then dry the purée until a spoon stroke exposes the pan cleanly before adding a drop of milk. That is the step that matters most.
Crosnes took their French name from Crosne, southeast of Paris, where the East Asian tuber was cultivated for French markets before passing into Parisian bourgeois cooking. Despite the English name Chinese artichoke, it is not an artichoke but the crisp, knobbled tuber of a plant in the mint family, prized for a flavor recalling artichoke heart, salsify, and fresh hazelnut. Classical kitchens served crosnes sautéed, as garnishes, and in purées such as this one, where potato supplies structure rather than disguise.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh crosnes
Quantity
about 4 cups (1⅓ lb / 600 g)
scrubbed very clean
floury potato
Quantity
1 small, about 1 cup quartered (5⅓ oz / 150 g)
peeled and quartered
water
Quantity
8 cups (1.9 L / 1.9 kg)
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 18 g)
whole milk
Quantity
up to ½ cup (120 ml / 124 g)
at room temperature
unsalted butter
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g)
cut into small pieces
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh crosnesscrubbed very clean | about 4 cups (1⅓ lb / 600 g) |
| floury potatopeeled and quartered | 1 small, about 1 cup quartered (5⅓ oz / 150 g) |
| water | 8 cups (1.9 L / 1.9 kg) |
| fine sea salt | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 18 g) |
| whole milkat room temperature | up to ½ cup (120 ml / 124 g) |
| unsalted buttercut into small pieces | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Firm vegetable brush
- •4-quart saucepan
- •Sturdy 8 to 9-inch fine-mesh sieve
- •Flexible bowl scraper or sturdy ladle
- •Broad, heavy 3-quart saucepan
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Scrub the crosnes
Rinse the crosnes, soak them in cold water for five minutes to soften any earth caught between their rings, then scrub each one under running water. Trim only any dry tips or damaged spots. Do not peel them; their shape makes peeling wasteful, and the sieve will hold back the fibrous skin.
A small, firm vegetable brush reaches between the rings better than a knife. Keep rinsing until the water runs entirely clear, because one grain of earth is one too many in a smooth purée. - 2
Cook just tender
Put the crosnes and quartered potato into a roomy saucepan with the water and salt. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a lively simmer and cook for 12 to 18 minutes. Begin testing early: the potato should offer no hard centre, while a crosne should yield to a knife but retain the faintest firmness. If the crosnes finish first, lift them out with a slotted spoon and let the potato continue alone. Overcooked crosnes drink in water, and water is precisely what the next step must remove.
- 3
Pass while hot
Drain the vegetables thoroughly and let them stand in the colander for one minute, no longer. Working while they are still very hot, press the crosnes and potato together through a sturdy fine-mesh sieve with a flexible scraper or the back of a ladle. Scrape the smooth purée from beneath the sieve and discard the fibrous residue. Do not add milk to make the passing easier, and do not use a blender; milk traps the excess moisture, while a fast blade turns the potato elastic.
- 4
Dry over fierce heat
Transfer the sieved purée to a broad, heavy saucepan and set it over medium-high heat. Stir, fold, and press it constantly against the pan for 3 to 5 minutes. At first it will smear wetly; as it dries, it gathers into a lighter mass, and a stroke of the spoon leaves the pan bottom clean for two heartbeats. Do not look for browning. If a tan film begins to form, immediately lift the unmarked purée into a clean pan without scraping up the caught layer, lower the heat one notch, and continue. Ça se rattrape.
- 5
Loosen with milk
Add ¼ cup (60 ml) of the milk and beat it in over medium heat until the purée is completely smooth and hot. Add more milk one tablespoon at a time, using only enough to make a soft, spoonable purée that holds a broad ridge rather than flowing flat. The exact quantity depends on how much water the crosnes carried. If it becomes loose, keep stirring over medium-low heat until the excess moisture leaves and the ridge returns.
- 6
Mount with butter
Take the pan completely off the heat. Monter au beurre (finish by beating in butter off the heat): add the butter a few pieces at a time, beating until each addition disappears before adding the next. The purée should become satin-smooth and glossy without a greasy pool. If the butter separates into beads, let the pan rest off the heat for 30 seconds, then beat in a teaspoon of milk to bring it together. Spoon the purée generously into a warmed deep serving bowl and serve at once. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose crosnes that are firm, pale, and crisp-looking. Shriveled tubers have already lost the moisture that makes them delicate. Their season is short, and this dish truly needs them; when they are absent, cook purée de salsifis as its cousin rather than passing off another root under the same name.
- •Keep the four-to-one ratio by weight: 600 grams of crosnes to 150 grams of potato. More potato makes the purée easier and cheaper, but it also buries the flavor the dish exists to preserve.
- •A sturdy sieve with medium-fine mesh is better here than an extremely fine pastry sieve. You need it fine enough to retain the crosne skins, but open enough that one cook can pass the hot vegetables before they cool.
- •Serve beside roast poultry, veal, or a butter-basted pork chop, especially when there is a modest pan jus to meet the purée on the plate. Its flavor is quiet, so keep strongly spiced accompaniments elsewhere.
Advance Preparation
- •The crosnes may be scrubbed earlier the same day. Wrap them in a clean damp towel and refrigerate them rather than leaving them submerged, which encourages them to absorb water.
- •For service the next day, cook, sieve, and dry the vegetables, then spread the plain base in a shallow container, cool it promptly, cover, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Reheat it over low heat with the milk, then beat in the butter off the heat just before serving.
- •A finished purée can be reheated gently for up to two days. Add a spoonful of milk if it has tightened, stir constantly, and add a small fresh piece of butter off the heat to restore its sheen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 200g)
Calories
245 calories
Total Fat
10 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
25 mg
Sodium
500 mg
Total Carbohydrates
34 g
Dietary Fiber
8 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
6 g
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