The blog of cooking-ez.com
Artichoke stalks
12,9434.5/5
Grade this page
Last modified on: October 25th 2016
Artichoke stalks
When preparing artichokes for cooking, you may well already know that we often need to remove the first round of leaves, if they are tatty or dirty, as well as the inedible stalk. The operative word here is “remove”, rather than “cut off”. To show you better what I mean, here is what not to do:
Why? Well, it's because the artichoke stalk contains tough fibres that run up into the heart. These don't cook well (if at all) and are very unpleasant to eat. Cutting the stalk off with a knife, like in the photo, leaves the fibres in the heart intact.
Here's how to do it: do not cut the stalk, but break it off, as shown here:
Hold the artichoke firmly on the edge of a table with one hand, then bend the stalk sharply with the other hand until it breaks off, bringing with it most of the fibres I mentioned earlier. It is worth noting that this is much easier to do when the artichoke is really fresh. Once the stalk starts to soften, it will bend without breaking properly.
To sum up: When preparing an artichoke for cooking, do not cut the stalk, but break it off instead.
Important: it is quite different for the small purple artichokes, which can be eaten with their stalk (and everything else).
Lasts posts
The 3 essential knivesYou must have heard a chef or cook say: "There’s no good cooking without good ingredients". This is very true, of course, but for any amateur or beginner it is equipment that really counts to start with. What I mean is that you should not skimp on [Read more...]
Using stretch food film effectivelyMaybe you use food film in your own kitchen. You know, the very thin, clear plastic stuff that you can stretch, often used to cover food and protect it from the air. It’s become so widely used that it’s now an essential item for pros. They even [Read more...]
The mock CAP baker's certificate examThe next instalment in my life as an apprentice baker at the French INBP professional school. I’m now halfway through training and it’s still as exciting as ever, and exhausting – but maybe I’m just getting old, or both… Anyway, a few days [Read more...]
Rosemary in recipesRosemary, as I’m sure you know, is a culinary herb: It is one of the famous French "herbes de Provence", and is very effective in bringing a real taste of the Mediterranean to any dish. The classic way to use it in a recipe is to add a [Read more...]
The Holy Grail of French bakersWhile browsing through the recipes on this site, you may have noticed that while I adore cooking (everything, in fact, to do with eating and drinking), I am particularly drawn to bakery: bread, viennoiseries and all that goes with them – it’s a [Read more...]
Is it really necessary to cream egg yolks?Let’s try and answer a question that crops up in cookery and patisserie, even if it verges on the existential: do the egg yolks in a custard recipe really need to be beaten until pale, or not? You might already have noticed in many recipes [Read more...]
Egg yolks and caster sugarWe often come across recipes where we need to mix egg yolks with caster sugar. This would appear to be a very ordinary and simple thing to do but, be warned, these two ingredients can behave oddly together. Let’s take confectioner's custard [Read more...]
The golden-brown finish on puff pastryLet's take a look at the tricky matter of producing puff pastry with an attractive, golden-brown finish. French pastry chefs call this "dorure" (literally, "gilding"). Behind this quirky term there lurks a real problem (and the solution): when [Read more...]
Post your comment or question
You are welcome, if you wish, to comment on this page: why you like it or not, what you have changed, what results it gave, point out a mistake or omission, etc. You can also ask a question. I answer all questions (in a broken English, sorry) unless someone else does it before me.
Please feel free to say what you think, I'm always very interested in your opinion. Your comment will appear on line with the page, so please write in standard readable English, not SIM or only in CAPITALS, otherwise your comment may be rejected.
Please look at advice for submitting a comment or image (what you should or should not do). By the way, don't type your e-mail address in the comment, otherwise you might be spammed.