Small Artichoke-bottoms

Petits fonds d’artichauts (small artichoke bottoms) teach a quiet classical discipline: control the color first, then give the tender base enough structure to carry a cold filling. The one true thing is brutally simple. A trimmed artichoke exposed to air darkens at once, so the acidulated bowl must be waiting before the knife touches the first leaf.

The original entry assumed five quarts of blanc, trays of little artichokes, and a cold larder with several fillings ready for service. At home, six cups in a wide saucepan and one bright vegetable macédoine are enough for twelve. The five-quart volume and the display of competing fillings are brigade scaffolding, so they go; cooking au blanc, cooling the bottoms in their liquor, drying them thoroughly, and giving them exactly twenty minutes in oil and lemon are the dish, so they stay. The separate Cooked Marinade for Venison (No. 168) remains available for the book’s venison salpicon alternative, where it belongs.

Done properly, each bottom is pale ivory-green, tender enough for a fork yet firm beneath its little mound of vegetables. Set up the acidulated water first and trim one artichoke at a time. That is the step that decides the dish.