Chef Juliette
Carottes Glacées pour Garnitures
Carottes Glacées prove that a garnish can teach a whole sauce lesson: carrots cook in butter, sugar, salt, and water until their own liquor reduces to a brilliant, clinging coat.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Chicorée à la Flamande
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2093, Chicorée à la Flamande, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Chicorée à la Flamande keeps its long pieces and pleasing bitterness beneath a glossy cream finish, proving that careful draining, not chopping, lets tender chicory hold its character.
Side Dishes
French
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
25 min
Active Time
1 hr 50 min cook•2 hr 15 min total
Yield4 servings
Chicorée à la Flamande (Flemish-style creamed chicory) teaches one true thing: water decides the sauce. The leaves are cut into two-inch lengths, parboiled, cooled, and pressed dry before they meet pale roux, consommé, cream, and butter. Leave excess water behind and the finish turns thin and weary; remove it properly and every length wears a glossy ivory coating while keeping its slight bitter bite.
The original directs a professional cook to Chicorée à la Crème (No. 2089), written for two pounds of chicory and a kitchen with a saucier, consommé always ready, and another saucepan waiting for the finish. For four people, the formula is halved and one covered oven-safe sauté pan does nearly everything. Good prepared consommé replaces the stockpot, and the separate finishing pan is brigade scaffolding that can go unless the sauce has caught. The ten-minute parboil, pale roux, covered braise, cream, and real butter are the dish itself. They stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Press firmly without grinding the leaves into paste, then loosen the lengths with your fingers. If they still drip when squeezed, they are not ready for the roux. That is the step that decides the dish, so settle it before you touch the pan.
Chicorée à la Flamande belongs to French Flanders, particularly the tables of Lille and the Nord, where pleasantly bitter greens meet a northern larder of butter, cream, and broth. The classical repertory carried that pairing into vegetable service through Chicorée à la Crème (No. 2089), but kept the leaves in long pieces rather than chopping them. Here, Flamande does not mean Belgian endive baked with ham and cheese; it means leafy chicory retaining its two-inch lengths through parboiling, braising, and the cream finish.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
canonical preparation reference
Quantity
½ scaled preparation Chicorée à la Crème (No. 2089), represented by the ingredients below
curly chicory
Quantity
1 large or 2 medium heads (about 1 lb / 450 g)
trimmed, washed, and cut crosswise into 2-inch / 5 cm lengths
unsalted butter for the pale roux
Quantity
2 tbsp plus 1 tsp (35 ml / 32 g)
all-purpose flour
Quantity
¼ cup (60 ml / 32 g)
clear prepared consommé
Quantity
2 cups (475 ml / 475 g)
preferably unsalted or low-sodium
fine salt
Quantity
½ tsp (2.5 ml / 3 g), or to taste
granulated sugar
Quantity
⅛ tsp (0.6 ml / 0.5 g)
heavy cream
Quantity
½ cup plus 1½ tbsp (140 ml / 140 g)
kept cold
unsalted finishing butter
Quantity
2 tbsp (30 ml / 28 g)
cool and cut into small pieces
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| canonical preparation reference | ½ scaled preparation Chicorée à la Crème (No. 2089), represented by the ingredients below |
| curly chicorytrimmed, washed, and cut crosswise into 2-inch / 5 cm lengths | 1 large or 2 medium heads (about 1 lb / 450 g) |
| unsalted butter for the pale roux | 2 tbsp plus 1 tsp (35 ml / 32 g) |
| all-purpose flour | ¼ cup (60 ml / 32 g) |
| clear prepared consommépreferably unsalted or low-sodium | 2 cups (475 ml / 475 g) |
| fine salt | ½ tsp (2.5 ml / 3 g), or to taste |
| granulated sugar | ⅛ tsp (0.6 ml / 0.5 g) |
| heavy creamkept cold | ½ cup plus 1½ tbsp (140 ml / 140 g) |
| unsalted finishing buttercool and cut into small pieces | 2 tbsp (30 ml / 28 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •5-quart / 4.7-litre pot
- •Large colander
- •Clean lint-free kitchen towel
- •12-inch / 30 cm oven-safe sauté pan with a tight-fitting lid
- •Tongs or two broad spoons
Instructions
- 1
Parboil the chicory
Heat the oven to 300°F / 150°C. Bring a large pot of water to a full boil, add the chicory lengths, and parboil them for exactly 10 minutes. Keep the water moving freely around the leaves so they soften evenly. They will lose some volume and their green will mute, which is exactly right; the long braise, not a bright salad colour, is the intention here.
- 2
Cool and press
Drain the chicory and cool it immediately in plenty of cold water. Drain again, gather the leaves in a clean towel, and press firmly until no water runs from them, taking care not to grind the two-inch lengths into paste. Loosen the pressed pieces with your fingers. If they still shed water, put them in the dry sauté pan over low heat for a minute or two, turning gently until the moisture disappears. Ça se rattrape. Remove them before making the roux.
A salad spinner removes surface water but cannot press out what the cooked leaves hold inside. Finish with the towel and your hands. - 3
Make the pale roux
Melt the 32 g butter in the oven-safe sauté pan over low heat. Add the flour and stir steadily for 3 to 4 minutes, until the roux looks smooth and ivory and no longer smells raw, but has taken no brown colour. Add the chicory and turn the lengths gently until the pale roux clings in a thin film. This is where Chicorée à la Crème (No. 2089) governs the preparation: the roux must cohere with the vegetable before the consommé arrives.
- 4
Moisten and braise
Add the consommé in three additions, turning the chicory carefully after each so the roux disperses without tearing the lengths. Season with the salt and the pinch of sugar, then bring the liquid just to a simmer. Cover tightly and braise in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes, turning the chicory once halfway through. If the sauce forms lumps when the consommé is added, lift out the chicory with tongs, whisk the liquid smooth, and return it. If the pan becomes dry before the leaves are tender, add 2 tablespoons of hot water or consommé. Keep the braise moist, not soupy.
- 5
Finish with cream
Remove the pan from the oven. If the bottom has caught, transfer the chicory and clean sauce to another saucepan; otherwise keep the same pan and spare yourself the washing. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cold cream, then fold in the rest and warm over low heat until the sauce is ivory, glossy, and thick enough to cling to every length. Do not boil it hard. Remove the pan from the heat and add the finishing butter piece by piece, turning gently until absorbed. If the sauce looks oily, stir in the reserved cold cream off the heat until it comes together again.
- 6
Dish and serve
Taste and correct the salt, remembering that consommé can carry plenty of its own. Arrange the chicory in a warmed timbale, a deep serving bowl, keeping the lengths visible rather than mounding them into a paste. Spoon every trace of the cream sauce over the top and serve beside roast poultry, veal, or pork. We don't apologize for butter. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose curly chicory or another mature leafy chicory with a pleasant bitter edge. Broad-leaf escarole is an honest market equivalent when that is how your grocer labels its chicories. Tight Belgian endive heads belong to another preparation.
- •A clear, full-flavoured prepared consommé is the honest home answer here. Choose an unsalted or low-sodium one if possible, because the long braise concentrates whatever salt it carries.
- •Pressing is not a polite dab with a towel. The cooked leaves hold a surprising amount of water, and that water will dilute both roux and cream. Press firmly, then separate the lengths again before they enter the pan.
- •Serve this with a plainly roasted bird, pork loin, or veal. The chicory's slight bitterness cuts the roast's richness, while its cream sauce welcomes every browned edge on the plate.
Advance Preparation
- •The chicory can be parboiled, cooled, pressed, and refrigerated in a covered container up to one day ahead. Separate the compressed lengths before adding them to the roux.
- •The covered braise can be completed earlier in the day or the day before. Cool and refrigerate it, then reheat gently before adding the cream and finishing butter; those final additions are best made just before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 260g)
Calories
290 calories
Total Fat
25 g
Saturated Fat
16 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
8 g
Cholesterol
70 mg
Sodium
480 mg
Total Carbohydrates
12 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
5 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Vegetables and Farinaceous Products - Carrots, Cêpes and Mushrooms
Browse the full collection
Chef Juliette
Carottes à la Crème
Carottes à la Crème teaches the order that makes the dish: glaze the carrots to a syrup first, add the cream boiling, then reduce until each piece wears a shining ivory coat.
Chef Juliette
Carottes à la Vichy
Carottes à la Vichy prove that a glaze is made by reduction, not decoration: even carrot coins cooked until tender and brilliant, then finished with parsley at the last moment.
Chef Juliette
Purée de Carottes
Purée de Carottes turns humble carrots and rice into a butter-glossed, perfectly stable purée: sieve it fine, dry it fiercely, then loosen it until the spoon leaves one soft furrow.