While most vegetables are pretty straightforward to peel, chop, and cook, fresh artichokes can be a little ...
prickly. The biggest barrier is probably the prep work, which involves snipping away the tips of the leaves, which can be quite sharp and pointy. Then there's of course all the cooking, whether you choose to steam, boil, grill them.
So it can be pretty disappointing to end up with bland-tasting artichokes after putting in all the work. We think everybody should love artichokes just as much as we do, so we asked Kieron Hales, the chef of Zingerman's Cornman Farms , to give us a few pointers on how to give artichokes an ultimate flavor boost. The most important piece of the artichoke puzzle, according to Hales, is to make sure your fresh artichokes are salted properly.
They can taste very bland without seasoning, which is why they're often sold marinated, so to get the salt absorbed into a fresh artichoke, use a couple of different salting methods. "Before cooking, I always season with salt, and steaming with salt will penetrate and season the artichokes more fully," Hales said. Give artichokes extra flavorings right away The flavor of artichokes is very mild and a bit of a blank slate, which is perfect for bright, bold flavors.
Don't wait, however, to start adding ingredients. The best time to add extra flavors to cooked artichokes is as soon as they're hot and ready. Once they're just cool enough to touch, you can start dipping pieces of your 'chokes in melted butter.