Chef Juliette
Haricots Blancs à l’Américaine (Lima Beans)
Lima beans, lean bacon, and tomato sauce show the quiet discipline of binding: cook the beans gently, drain them thoroughly, and coat each one until glossy, never soupy.
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Laitues à la Crème
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2164, Laitues à la Crème, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Laitues à la Crème turns humble lettuce into a silken, savory side: parboiled, pressed, bound with pale roux, slowly braised in consommé, then enriched with cream and butter only after the heat is gone.
Side Dishes
French
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
30 min
Active Time
1 hr 50 min cook•2 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
Laitues à la Crème (cream-braised lettuce) teaches one true thing: water must leave before flavor can enter. Parboiling softens the leaves, but pressing makes room for the consommé, roux, cream, and butter that follow. Carry excess water into the pan and the sauce turns thin and washed out. The pressing is the dish, not housekeeping.
The original sends the cook through the method of Chicorée à la Crème (No. 2089) and assumes a saucier, consommé held beside a stockpot never off the fire, and a silver timbale waiting for service. That brigade scaffolding can go. Ready-to-use consommé, an ovenproof pan, a clean finishing saucepan, and a warmed deep bowl do the work at home. The quantity is halved from two pounds of lettuce to one, but the book's proportions, ten-minute parboil, pale roux, covered ninety-minute braise, and off-heat finish remain intact. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The finished lettuce is pale green and softly savory, with cream rounding the consommé and butter giving the sauce its final gloss. It should spoon generously without leaking liquid around the bowl. Before you touch the roux, press the cooled lettuce until another hard squeeze produces scarcely a drop.
Laitues à la Crème belongs to the Parisian classical table, where cooked lettuces appeared among the entremets de légumes, vegetable dishes handled with the same discipline as meat or fish. Its formula borrows the treatment given to chicory: blanch the leaves, press away their water, bind them with roux, and replace what was removed with consommé and cream. Raw salad's familiarity has obscured a long French practice of braising lettuce for both bourgeois and grand tables.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Chicorée à la Crème
Quantity
1 procedural reference (No. 2089)
apply its method to lettuce; do not add prepared chicory
firm butterhead lettuces
Quantity
2 large, about 1 pound (454 g) after trimming
water
Quantity
3 quarts (2.8 L / 2.8 kg)
for parboiling
unsalted butter
Quantity
2¼ tablespoons (33 ml / 32 g)
for the pale roux
all-purpose flour
Quantity
¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon (65 ml / 32 g)
ready-to-use consommé
Quantity
2 generous cups (500 ml / 500 g)
preferably unsalted or low-sodium
fine salt
Quantity
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 3 g), plus more as needed
powdered sugar
Quantity
1 small pinch, about 1/16 teaspoon (0.3 ml / 0.25 g)
heavy cream
Quantity
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 ml / 150 g)
at room temperature
unsalted butter
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g)
diced and cool
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Chicorée à la Crèmeapply its method to lettuce; do not add prepared chicory | 1 procedural reference (No. 2089) |
| firm butterhead lettuces | 2 large, about 1 pound (454 g) after trimming |
| waterfor parboiling | 3 quarts (2.8 L / 2.8 kg) |
| unsalted butterfor the pale roux | 2¼ tablespoons (33 ml / 32 g) |
| all-purpose flour | ¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon (65 ml / 32 g) |
| ready-to-use consommépreferably unsalted or low-sodium | 2 generous cups (500 ml / 500 g) |
| fine salt | ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 3 g), plus more as needed |
| powdered sugar | 1 small pinch, about 1/16 teaspoon (0.3 ml / 0.25 g) |
| heavy creamat room temperature | ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 ml / 150 g) |
| unsalted butterdiced and cool | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •6-quart stockpot
- •Large colander
- •Clean sturdy kitchen towel
- •3-quart ovenproof sauté pan or casserole with a tight lid
- •2-quart finishing saucepan
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Parboil the lettuce
Heat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Discard damaged outer leaves, trim the bases without wasting the tender ribs, and wash the lettuce thoroughly. Bring the water to a full boil in a large pot, submerge the leaves, and parboil for ten minutes from the moment the water returns to the boil. Ten minutes looks severe for lettuce, but this is braising preparation, not salad making.
- 2
Cool and press
Drain the lettuce and cool it promptly under cold running water. Gather it by handfuls and squeeze firmly, then wrap it in a clean kitchen towel and twist until scarcely any liquid emerges. Chop it finely. If the chopped lettuce releases another puddle, return it to the towel and press again. Ça se rattrape. Never compensate with extra flour, which would leave the finished sauce pasty.
- 3
Make the pale roux
Following Chicorée à la Crème (No. 2089), melt the roux butter over low heat in a 3-quart ovenproof sauté pan or casserole. Stir in the flour and cook for three to four minutes, stirring steadily, until the roux is smooth, foamy, and ivory without taking color. Add the chopped lettuce and turn it through the roux until every piece is lightly coated. Pale means pale here; browned roux would overpower the lettuce and muddy the cream.
- 4
Moisten and season
Add the consommé in three additions, stirring each one smooth before adding the next. Season with the salt and powdered sugar, then bring the mixture just to a simmer. The sugar shouldn't make the lettuce sweet; its small work is to round any remaining bitterness. If pockets of roux form, stop adding liquid and press them against the pan with the spoon until smooth before continuing.
- 5
Braise under cover
Cover the pan tightly and braise in the oven for ninety minutes, stirring once halfway through and scraping the bottom clean. The lettuce is ready when it is completely tender and the liquid clings softly rather than running free. If it is watery at the end, set the uncovered pan over medium-low heat and stir until the sauce coats the leaves; if it has tightened too far, loosen it with a spoonful of consommé. Correct the consistency before the dairy enters.
- 6
Finish off heat
Scrape the hot lettuce into a clean saucepan and take it completely off the heat. Stir in the cream gradually, then add the cool butter a few pieces at a time, stirring until each addition disappears and the sauce gains a soft gloss. Cream and butter go in now, never before the braise. If butter beads on the surface, set the pan over a bowl of cool water and stir in a teaspoon of the measured cream until the sauce comes together.
- 7
Dish and serve
Taste for salt and spoon the lettuce into a warmed, deep serving bowl, the honest home equivalent of the silver timbale. Serve at once, without garnish, beside roast chicken, veal, lamb, or a plainly cooked fish. The sauce should gleam and settle slowly behind the serving spoon. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose firm, tightly headed butterhead lettuce with crisp ribs. Loose baby leaves disappear during the ten-minute parboil, while mature heads keep enough character to survive pressing and braising.
- •Use ready-to-use consommé, not an undiluted canned concentrate. Taste it before seasoning; a salty consommé becomes more forceful during the long braise, and the final cream softens salt less than cooks expect.
- •Keep the roux ivory and cook it long enough to lose its raw flour smell. Color belongs in many sauces, but not this one. The pleasure here is the pale, savory binding and the gloss of the off-heat butter.
- •Serve Laitues à la Crème with a roast whose juices need a quiet companion. A dry white Burgundy or restrained red Burgundy sits comfortably beside both the lettuce and the meat.
Advance Preparation
- •The lettuce can be parboiled, cooled, pressed, and chopped one day ahead. Refrigerate it well covered, then let it lose its chill while the roux cooks.
- •The braised base can be prepared through the oven stage earlier the same day. Cool it promptly, refrigerate, and reheat gently until fully hot before transferring it to the clean saucepan. Add the cream and butter only off the heat, just before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 245g)
Calories
300 calories
Total Fat
26 g
Saturated Fat
16 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
8 g
Cholesterol
75 mg
Sodium
525 mg
Total Carbohydrates
11 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
7 g
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