No. 2740

Endives or Escaroles Glazed

Endives ou Escaroles Glacees

Wipe the endives well, cut them of an even length and range them in a flat buttered saucepan; season and baste over with butter; cook on a slow fire while covered and with no other moistening, turning them over once only. At the last moment drain off the endives; arrange them on a dish and unglaze the saucepan with a little half-glaze sauce (No. 413) or light bechamel (No. 409), then strain the sauce over.

← No. 2739 Eggplant Fried Cabbages & Greens No. 2741 Green Peas—Mangetout—a la Fleurette →

For the Modern Kitchen

A butter braise with no added liquid: the endives cook in their own moisture and finish coated in the buttery reduction, which is what glacées means here. The whole method hinges on keeping the heat low enough that nothing browns before the heads are tender.

Which vegetableIn French usage endive is the tight white Belgian chicory head (witloof); escarole is the broad-leaved chicory sold loose. Either works, but escarole heads should be halved or quartered lengthwise and kept intact at the root so they hold together.
"No other moistening"This is the instruction that matters. Adding water or stock turns the dish into a stew and washes away the glaze. Use a heavy pan with a tight lid so the vegetable's own water condenses and returns.
Slow fireThe lowest steady burner setting. Figure roughly 35 to 50 minutes for whole Belgian endives, less for split escarole; they are done when a knife meets no resistance at the thick root end.
Turning once onlyNot fussiness. Each turn breaks the seal and releases steam, and repeated handling shreds the leaves once they soften. Turn at the halfway point and leave them alone.
Butter quantityRanhofer gives none. Reckon on 2 to 3 tablespoons for four heads, plus enough to butter the pan generously; the fat is the cooking medium as well as the sauce base.
Half-glaze and bechamelNo. 413 is demi-glace, a reduced brown veal stock, and No. 409 is a light bechamel. A few tablespoons of good reduced brown stock or a thin white sauce serves the same purpose "unglazing" (deglazing) the caramelized butter and juices left in the pan.
BitternessIf the heads taste sharp, a pinch of sugar in the seasoning offsets it.
YieldFour Belgian endives or two heads of escarole make a side for four.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of the restaurant's kitchen, and its vegetable chapters are essentially French kitchen practice transplanted to Manhattan. Braising chicory in butter alone belongs to that tradition: the vegetable is treated as a candidate for a sauce rather than as a boiled accompaniment, and the finishing step, deglazing the pan and pouring the result over, is the same logic applied to a roast. Belgian endive itself was a nineteenth-century arrival, generally traced to Brussels growers who forced chicory roots in the dark to produce blanched heads, and it is often said that by Ranhofer's day it had become a fashionable import on American restaurant menus. The cross-references to numbered sauces are typical of the book, which assumes a brigade with demi-glace and bechamel already standing on the stove.