Turnip-tops

Fanes de navets à l’anglaise (turnip tops plainly boiled and pressed) teach a severe and useful lesson: with tender greens, water management is seasoning. Cook them until the thin stems yield, then drive out every loose drop, and the leaves become compact, clean-tasting squares rather than a wet heap. The pressing decides the dish.

The original entry assumes a brigade cook who already knows Chou à l’Anglaise (No. 2101), a service quantity of greens, and two plates ready at the pass. Your home equivalent is simpler: one pound of young tops, a roomy pot, a colander, and the same two-plate press for four people. The large batch and holding pan are brigade scaffolding and can go. Plain water, thorough pressing, and the final squares must stay, because they are the preparation itself.

No fond, roux, reduction, or emulsion belongs here; the source means plainly in water and nothing richer. This is not poverty of technique but its test. Watch the thickest tender stem, not the clock, then press while the greens are still hot enough to release their water. If they weep after cutting, press once more. Ça se rattrape.