Chef Juliette
Choux Rouges à la Flamande
Fine-cut red cabbage, russet apples, butter, sugar, nutmeg, and vinegar share one covered cocotte, cooking gently until the leaves gleam garnet and the apples soften without disappearing.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Chou à l’Anglaise
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2101, Chou à l’Anglaise, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Plain cabbage, cooked tender, pressed absolutely dry, and cut into lozenges: a strict little classical lesson in water control that protects every sauce sharing the plate.
Side Dishes
French
Weeknight
Quick Meal
Budget Friendly
10 min
Active Time
15 min cook•30 min total
Yield4 servings
Chou à l’Anglaise (plain boiled or steamed cabbage) teaches one severe and useful lesson: cooking water is not sauce. The cabbage must become tender, then be pressed until it can no longer dilute the roast juices or gravy beside it. That pressing is not tidying. It is the dish.
The original entry assumes a professional cook who can choose a brigade quantity and judge tenderness without a clock. There is no saucier, standing stock, or salamander to replace here. For the home table, I have fixed the quantity at one medium cabbage, given clear boiling and steaming times, and kept the original two-plate press exactly as written. The unwritten batch judgment was scaffolding; the cook, press, and cut sequence must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
You want supple leaves and tender ribs, never cabbage collapsing into threads. The one step that matters most comes after the pot: press out every drop you reasonably can. If the first pressing leaves the cabbage wet, pour away the liquid and press again. Ça se rattrape.
Chou à l’Anglaise belongs to the French classical service table rather than to one French region. In that vocabulary, à l’anglaise marked vegetables plainly boiled, sometimes with butter offered separately, an English attribution filtered through French kitchen grammar rather than one fixed British household recipe. This cabbage preparation passed easily from professional garnish lists to bourgeois tables because its pressed lozenges could receive a meat sauce without thinning it.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
medium green cabbage
Quantity
1 head (about 2 lb / 900 g)
damaged outer leaves removed
water
Quantity
2½ quarts (2.4 liters / 2.4 kg) for boiling, or 2 cups (475 ml / 475 g) for steaming
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| medium green cabbagedamaged outer leaves removed | 1 head (about 2 lb / 900 g) |
| water | 2½ quarts (2.4 liters / 2.4 kg) for boiling, or 2 cups (475 ml / 475 g) for steaming |
Equipment Needed
- •6-quart (5.7-liter) pot with lid
- •Steamer basket, if steaming
- •Large colander
- •Two heatproof dinner plates
- •Paring knife and chef's knife
- •Thick, dry kitchen towels
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the cabbage
Remove any tough or damaged outer leaves, then quarter the cabbage lengthwise through the stalk. Cut the dense core from each quarter while leaving the layers in large, manageable sections. Rinse away any grit. Keep the pieces broad at this stage; the lozenges are cut only after cooking and pressing, exactly as the preparation requires.
- 2
Boil or steam
For boiling, bring the larger quantity of water to a full boil in a 6-quart pot. Add the cabbage, cover just until the water returns to the boil, then uncover and cook at a lively simmer for 8 to 12 minutes. For steaming, bring the smaller quantity of water to the boil beneath a steamer basket, arrange the quarters above it, cover, and cook for 12 to 15 minutes. In either case, stop when a paring knife enters the thickest rib with only slight resistance. The leaves should bend readily but still hold together.
- 3
Drain without rinsing
Lift the cabbage into a colander, set the pieces cut-side down, and leave them for 2 minutes so the first rush of water escapes. Do not rinse or plunge them into cold water. That only fills the leaves again, undoing the work the next step must accomplish.
- 4
Press between plates
Set one heatproof dinner plate in the sink or on a rimmed tray. Arrange the hot cabbage on it in a compact layer, working in two batches if necessary, and place the second plate firmly on top. Protect your hands with folded towels, press steadily for 30 seconds, then tilt the plates and pour off the expressed water. Rearrange the cabbage and repeat two or three times, until firm pressure produces only a few beads. Use pressure, not violence; the leaves must be dry but still recognizable. If a test cut releases a puddle, return the batch between the plates and press again. Ça se rattrape.
The plates and escaping liquid will be hot. Keep the lower plate tilted away from you and hold both plates through thick, dry towels. - 5
Cut and serve
Transfer the pressed cabbage to a cutting board and gather the layers into an even slab. Cut strips about 1½ inches (4 cm) wide, then cut across them on a diagonal to make lozenges. Squares of the same size are equally correct. Arrange the pieces in a warm serving dish and bring them straight to the table, with no cooking water trailing behind them. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose a cabbage that feels heavy for its size, with crisp leaves held tightly around the head. A loose or tired cabbage absorbs water readily and collapses before the ribs become properly tender.
- •Boiling cooks the quarters a little faster and more evenly; steaming preserves a fuller cabbage flavor but takes several minutes longer. Both methods belong to this preparation, and both finish with the same two-plate press.
- •The source gives no butter, cream, or built sauce, so none is added here. Chou à l’Anglaise is the dry, neutral companion to whatever juices or sauce already belong on the plate.
- •Do not chop the cabbage before cooking. Small pieces trap water between their folds and become difficult to press without turning them to pulp.
Advance Preparation
- •Remove the outer leaves, quarter, and core the cabbage up to 8 hours ahead. Keep it covered in the refrigerator so the cut edges do not dry out.
- •Cook this close to serving when possible. Cooked cabbage softens and develops a stronger aroma in storage; refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and use them within 3 days in a soup or braise rather than expecting the lozenges to remain neat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 180g)
Calories
60 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
30 mg
Total Carbohydrates
12 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
3 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 - Cabbages
Browse the full collection
Chef Juliette
Marinaded Red Cabbages for Hors-d’œuvre
A cold-larder lesson in patience: fine red cabbage salted for two days until crisp-tender, then steeped with vinegar, garlic, peppercorns, and bay for the sharp spoonful boiled beef needs.
Chef Juliette
Braised Cabbage
Parboiled cabbage settles between bacon and aromatic vegetables, then braises for two quiet hours in consommé until sweet, tender, and glossy, with none of the rankness that hurried cabbage brings.
Chef Juliette
Chou Farci
A whole Savoy cabbage opened leaf by leaf, layered with highly seasoned pork and veal, rebuilt tightly, bound in bacon, and braised three hours until its reduced liquor gleams around every generous slice.