Blanch your artichokes - that is to say, parboil them in boiling salted water (one quarter of an ounce of salt per quart); then cool them off with cold water; drain and remove the leaves of the heart, so that you may be able to pull out the woolly centre, or flower. Season with pepper and salt; place them in a frying-pan, with a few spoonfuls of olive oil, and fry the tips of the leaves, laying the artichokes in the pan bottom upwards.

Then you take a sufficient quantity of garnish, composed of mushrooms, parsley, shallots - the mushrooms and parsley in equal quantities; the shallots only half as much-and chop very finely. Place on the fire in a saucepan - with butter and salt and pepper-the shallots first of all, and stir with a spoon for five minutes; then add the chopped mushrooms and parsley, and stir over the fire another five minutes. Next take for each artichoke the value of one ounce of bacon. We will suppose that you are cooking four artichokes ; you will need about a wineglassful of herb garnish, to which you will add four ounces of grated bacon, one quarter ounce of butter, one quarter ounce of flour, and a wine-glassful of good bouillon. Place all these ingredients in a saucepan over a brisk fire for five minutes, and stir with a wooden spoon.

Then, in the cups formed by the four artichokes that you have prepared by hollowing out the woolly centre you place a quarter of your sauce; tie a string round each one, to hold the leaves together; put a speck of bacon on the top of each one; arrange them in a dish, with two wineglassfuls of bouillon, and cook the whole for twenty minutes, with fire above and fire below, like a dish au gratin, or else in an oven. Before serving squeeze over each artichoke three drops of orange or lemon juice.

This dish is composed of simple ingredients, but it requires to be prepared with great care. All good cooking is the result of care, undivided attention, and love of the art.