Cooking artichokes

[mschn99]

well, it seems as a lot of americans are in the dark on how good artichokes are and how easy they are too cook and eat....so since i live about five miles from the artichoke capital of the workd (castroville cali) and the artichoke festival was this weekend (i bought a case of 36 medium sized chokes' for 14 bucks) i thought i would give the basics. first off, the artichoke has great flavor, but is basically a tool for eating whatever dipping sauce you may like. the most common are real butter and/or mayo....but the possibilities are endless. anything you can think of mixing up, from a garlic sauce, to a cajun sauce, to ranch dressing works. you can vary from this basic way to cook them a bunch. some like to put partially cooked bacon between the "leaves"....others stuff the leaves full of garlic prior to cooking, but this will give everyone the basics.

Prepp

cut the top 3/4 of an inch off the articoke so it will stand "upside down" while cooking. also cut the last third of all the other visibal leaves off. stuff the artichoke with whatever you want if you choose to, but they are awsome even just cooked with nothing. bring a large pot with a steamer to a boil standing up, or put them in a pyrex dish standing up with about a half inch of water in the bottom. if you cook them in the pyrex (microwave method), cover them with plastic wrap. if you steam them on the stove in a pot, cook them with the lid on.

Cooking

Cook them for roughly 10-30 minutes depending on choke' size. they are done once the outside leaves pull of easily. do not overcook them. the leaves should not fall off at first touch, just pull off with not much effort....

Eating

Peel off the outside three to four layers of leaves, then start dipping the bottom portion. put the dipped leaf in your mouth and use either your upper or lower front teeth to scrape the meat off of the bottom. as you get closer to the heart the leaves will become more tender and you can actually eat up to half of the whole leaf. when you run out of leaves.....there will be a fuzzy kind of thing on the heart. scrape this "fuzz" out with a spoon or knife, and then ENJOY. the best part is the heart, you can eat the whole bottom and even part of the stem right at the heart......ABSOLUTELY delicious, especially if you get creative with your dipping sauce............Marc

[Brian]

thanks for the cooking tips, steaming sounds like the way to go.
i have had them before with a raspberry sauce and they were very good.
seen some in the grocery last week, they were about the size of an egg. smallest ones i have seen. looked fresh though.
im gonna get some this week and try them with butter and a touch of salt.
brian

[mschn99]

Originally Posted by 099f350

thanks for the cooking tips, steaming sounds like the way to go.
i have had them before with a raspberry sauce and they were very good.
seen some in the grocery last week, they were about the size of an egg. smallest ones i have seen. looked fresh though.
im gonna get some this week and try them with butter and a touch of salt.
brian

there are three sizes of artichokes that grow on each stalk on the plant (there are lots of stocks on each bush)....the top one is the great big primary one....the ones below i (2-6) are the normal sized ones...then below those are the "baby" chokes.......the baby ones are the most common for cooking with if you just want the heart, cause you can cook them and then just pull the outside leaves off and break the heart off....then you eat the whole bottom and use the heart for cooking. most chokes have "fuzzies" but the small ones have few to none....so the heart is easily used for cooking......Marc

[Brian]

come to think of it, ill cook them with the crab legs i got (snow crab) since ill already have melted butter out. picked up 5lbs of crab last week. they had them on sale at the seafood market for 3.99lb. mmmmmmmmmm
brian

[mschn99]

Originally Posted by 099f350

come to think of it, ill cook them with the crab legs i got (snow crab) since ill already have melted butter out. picked up 5lbs of crab last week. they had them on sale at the seafood market for 3.99lb. mmmmmmmmmm
brian

you read my mind....im having crab and artichokes tonight.....thats the best man...they go perfect together

[super_stroke]

crab is good, artichokes..................not so much.

[mschn99]

Originally Posted by super_stroke

crab is good, artichokes..................not so much.

have you ever really given them a chance bill.......

[super_stroke]

not realy i dont think. dont they look like a pine cone or pine apple? i think maybe i have i dont remember. my memory as of late is gone straight to ****.

[Banshee34]

Originally Posted by super_stroke

not realy i dont think. dont they look like a pine cone or pine apple? i think maybe i have i dont remember. my memory as of late is gone straight to ****.

OMG!!!!!!!!! #1 artichokes rock, #2 pineapple griled is my all time fav! Don't know if we can forgive your lack of ability to try different foods!

[F250gal]

I love artichokes, and the ones I have gotten lately at the market are YUMMY>>. I steam mine in the vegetable steamer. prepared like was written, chopping off the top and trimming leaves. I like to steam them naked, and then dip those tender leaves in mayo....now I am hungry...