What à l'anglaise means
À l’anglaise is a French phrase meaning “in the English style”. French cooks long used it, with a hint of teasing, for food cooked as simply as possible, because English cooking had a reputation for plain boiled food. In practice it is used in different ways. The most common is vegetables or potatoes cooked in boiling salted water or white stock, drained and served as they are, usually with a knob of butter or a scattering of chopped parsley.
Nothing else is added, so the quality of the vegetables and the timing matter a great deal. It can also mean a coating of flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs, applied to fish, escalopes or croquettes before they are fried. French kitchens call this paner à l’anglaise, and it gives a crisp, even crust. You will meet the phrase on classic French menus, in older cookbooks and in professional training, where a dish of carrots or peas à l’anglaise simply tells the diner that the vegetables are plain.
It is not related to crème anglaise beyond the shared nod to England. If a recipe uses the term without explanation, the context usually makes clear whether it means boiling or breadcrumbing.