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.
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Choux de Bruxelles au Beurre
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2118, Choux de Bruxelles au Beurre, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Choux de Bruxelles finished under a lid with their full measure of butter, firm at the center and glossy outside: a modest vegetable dish that teaches why blanching is only the beginning.
Side Dishes
French
Weeknight
Christmas
Comfort Food
15 min
Active Time
25 min cook•40 min total
Yield4 servings
Choux de Bruxelles au beurre (Brussels sprouts with butter) teaches the discipline of two-stage cookery. The water begins the cooking, but it must not finish it. Drain the sprouts while their centers still resist the knife, then let butter and enclosed oven heat carry them to tenderness without reducing them to little cabbages of surrender.
The original entry assumed a professional rhythm: a boiling pot ready, a sauté pan beside it, an oven free, and several hands moving vegetables through service. For one cook, one stove, one evening, a lidded ovenproof skillet does the same work. I have set the quantity at 1½ pounds for four people and kept the book's exact proportion of two ounces of butter per pound. The brigade's hand-offs are scaffolding and can go. The firm blanch, the hot drain, the full measure of butter, and the covered fifteen-minute finish are the dish itself and must stay.
Done properly, the choux arrive deep green, gently sweet, and gleaming, with butter caught between their leaves rather than floating uselessly beneath them. The one step that decides everything is the first cooking: take them from the water while the core is still distinctly firm.
Brussels sprouts belong by name and cultivation to the market gardens around Brussels, but French kitchens adopted them into the classical vegetable repertory as choux de Bruxelles, most often blanched and finished generously with butter. Au beurre is not a regional sauce but a method shared by bourgeois tables and grand kitchens, where vegetables were cooked in stages so their texture could be controlled precisely. This covered oven finish corrects a common misconception: the sprouts are not boiled until done, because the water begins their cooking and the butter completes it.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small, firm Brussels sprouts
Quantity
6 cups (1½ pounds / 680 g)
trimmed
fine sea salt for the blanching water
Quantity
1 tablespoon (18 g)
fine sea salt for seasoning
Quantity
½ teaspoon (3 g)
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (0.6 g)
cold unsalted butter
Quantity
6 tablespoons (3 ounces / 85 g)
cut into small pieces
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small, firm Brussels sproutstrimmed | 6 cups (1½ pounds / 680 g) |
| fine sea salt for the blanching water | 1 tablespoon (18 g) |
| fine sea salt for seasoning | ½ teaspoon (3 g) |
| freshly ground black pepper | ¼ teaspoon (0.6 g) |
| cold unsalted buttercut into small pieces | 6 tablespoons (3 ounces / 85 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Large saucepan or stockpot
- •Colander
- •Paring knife
- •12-inch (30 cm) ovenproof sauté pan with a tight-fitting lid
- •Folded kitchen towel or oven mitts
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the kitchen
Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) with a rack in the middle. Set a 12-inch (30 cm) ovenproof sauté pan and its lid beside the stove, with a colander close at hand. The transfer from water to pan should be immediate, because the sprouts must remain hot.
If your ovenproof pan has no lid, seal it tightly with foil. The enclosed heat matters; the particular lid does not. - 2
Trim the sprouts
Remove any yellow or damaged outer leaves and shave only the dry end from each stalk. Keep the cores intact so the sprouts hold together. Choose evenly sized sprouts when possible; if a few are much larger, put those into the water one minute before the smaller ones rather than cutting everything apart.
- 3
Blanch them firm
Bring 3 quarts (2.8 liters) of water to a vigorous boil and add the tablespoon of salt. Add the sprouts and cook uncovered until the outer leaves yield to a paring knife but the center still offers clear resistance, usually 5 to 7 minutes after the water returns to the boil. Test one through the stalk end. If you're uncertain, take them out; the oven can finish a firm sprout, but no pan can restore one already boiled soft.
If the sprouts have gone softer than intended, drain them immediately and shorten the covered oven finish to 5 minutes. You cannot restore their firmness, but you can keep them whole and coat them properly with butter. Ça se rattrape. - 4
Drain them hot
Tip the sprouts straight into the colander and shake firmly for 30 seconds. Do not rinse or cool them. Let the surface water escape, but do not leave them standing until cold; their retained heat helps melt the butter evenly and continues the controlled cooking the moment they enter the pan.
- 5
Stew under cover
Transfer the hot sprouts to the ovenproof sauté pan. Season evenly with the ½ teaspoon of salt and the pepper, then scatter the cold butter pieces across and between the sprouts rather than leaving one large lump on top. Cover tightly and place in the oven for 15 minutes. After about 8 minutes, hold the lid securely with a folded towel and roll the pan once so the melting butter reaches every sprout.
- 6
Finish the butter
Uncover and roll the sprouts gently through the butter. They are ready when a knife enters without force but still meets a slight resistance at the core, and their leaves wear a clear butter sheen. If thin, watery butter collects in the bottom, set the uncovered pan over medium heat and roll it for 60 to 90 seconds until the excess moisture leaves and the butter clings. Ça se rattrape. Taste, correct the salt and pepper if needed, and serve immediately with the butter from the pan spooned over the top. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose small, tight sprouts with bright green leaves and pale, freshly cut stalk ends. Loose yellow leaves signal age, and age brings the sulfurous flavor unfairly blamed on the vegetable itself.
- •Six tablespoons of butter may look generous. It is the source entry's precise proportion, two ounces per pound, and it is responsible for both the flavor and the protected, gentle oven finish. We don't apologize for butter.
- •Have the seasoned pan, butter pieces, and lid ready before the sprouts enter the water. Draining them hot is part of the method, so this is not the moment to begin searching for the pepper mill.
- •Serve the choux beside roast poultry, glazed ham, pork, or beef. Their buttery sweetness is especially welcome on a Christmas table, where they catch the roasting juices without needing any decorative garnish.
- •Refrigerate leftovers in a covered container for up to 3 days. Reheat them gently in a skillet with a teaspoon of water, rolling the pan just until the butter loosens and coats them again.
Advance Preparation
- •Trim the sprouts up to 1 day ahead, dry them thoroughly, and refrigerate them in a covered container lined with a clean towel.
- •Cut and weigh the butter earlier in the day, then keep it cold. The small pieces melt around the sprouts more evenly than one large piece.
- •Do not blanch the sprouts ahead and chill them. The source specifically depends on draining without cooling, so the boiling and oven finish should remain one continuous piece of cooking.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 180g)
Calories
225 calories
Total Fat
18 g
Saturated Fat
11 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
46 mg
Sodium
460 mg
Total Carbohydrates
15 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
6 g
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