Topinambours Frits

Topinambours frits (battered and fried Jerusalem artichokes) teach the discipline of two cookings. The butter makes the knobbly tuber tender and nutty; the frying does not cook the centre, it gives that tender centre a crisp coat. Fry a raw slice and the crust will darken while the heart remains stubborn. That is the one true thing to know before you touch the pan.

The terse classical entry assumed a bowl of pâte à frire, a light frying batter, and a fryer held ready for service, with enough hands to cook the vegetable ahead and fry it only as the plates left the kitchen. Here the quantity is four generous side portions, the fryer is a heavy saucepan and thermometer, and one cook does the jobs in sequence. The standing fryer and service-scale mise en place are scaffolding and can go. Butter-cooking the slices and frying at the last moment are the dish, and they stay.

Done properly, the coating is thin, bubbled, and butter-gold, while the topinambour inside is creamy and faintly sweet. Cool and blot the butter-cooked slices before battering; if they go in warm and greasy, the coating slips, and no amount of frying can persuade it back. That cooling and drying is the step that decides the dish.