Mulled artichokes

Mulled artichokes typify the approach of Victor Gordon in The English Cookbook. Ingredients that may appear incongruent together to Americans, and many English people for that matter, form a harmonious whole steeped in the British culinary tradition but skewed a bit by his late twentieth century effort to create lighter, fresher “new English” foods arising from past practices. “Mulling,” he maintains, is a flexible and challenging new treatment for vegetables.” ( English Cookbook 211)

• 1 cup pale ale
• ½ cup malt vinegar
• a small onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 smashed and minced garlic clove
• scant teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
• 1 Tablespoon black treacle
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 Jerusalem artichokes cut into ½ inch rounds
• about 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter for frying
• soft brown sugar
• lemon juice

1. Simmer together the ingredients that appear before the artichokes for about 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile blanch the artichokes in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain them and return them to their saucepan.
3. Strain the boiling mull over the artichokes, boil for 5 minutes, remove them from the heat and let them stand for a further 10 minutes.
4. Strain away the mull.
5. Fry the artichokes quickly in the butter, sprinkle them with the sugar and squeeze lemon juice overall.

Notes:

-Gordon specifies brown ale, which is considerably sweeter than pale. If you choose our pale ale, make sure not to use that is too hoppy.

-The same process may be applied to carrots, parsnips and white or yellow turnips.

Another ‘mull’ from The English Cookbook works with those same vegetables in addition to cabbage, celery, leek or Brussels sprouts: The cooking times will require some adjustment.

Simmer ½ bottle of Cheap Fake Madeira or Medium Sherry with 2 or 3 bay leaves, some mixed dried herbs, the juice of 2 lemons, a teaspoon of pepper, a Tablespoon of soft brown sugar and a Tablespoon of Worcestershire for 10 minutes and use this mull for the recipe instead of the first one.