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Cauliflower with Tomato Sauce
Boil 4 large white cauliflowers in a little thin flour and water until tender, then cut off the stalks and press them head downwards into a hot basin. Turn them into a tureen, and pour round them a little tomato or piquant sauce. Before serving, place the stalks neatly round them. They should look like one immense cauliflower. Time, fifteen to twenty-five minutes to boil.
A Victorian presentation dish: four cauliflowers cooked, drained and pressed into a bowl so they turn out as a single dome under sauce. The technique is sound, but the boiling liquid and the timing both need translating.
- The flour and water is a blancA thin slurry of flour in the cooking water keeps cauliflower white by shielding it from the air and from any iron in the pan. Roughly a tablespoon of flour whisked smooth into a quart of salted water is the usual proportion; a squeeze of lemon does much the same job.
- Boil the heads wholeThe recipe assumes whole heads, since they must later be pressed together into one shape. Fifteen to twenty-five minutes is right for a whole head, but test with a knife tip at the core rather than trusting the clock — cauliflower goes from tender to sulphurous and grey in a few minutes.
- "A hot basin" is a warmed pudding bowlA plain round-bottomed mixing bowl, rinsed with boiling water and dried. Pack the drained heads in florets-down and press firmly so they knit; invert onto a warmed serving dish.
- "Tureen" here just means the serving dishThe word usually denotes a deep, often covered dish for soup, but it was also used for vegetables and sauced dishes brought to table, which is plainly the sense here. Use a shallow bowl or a deep platter with a rim to hold the sauce.
- Drain harder than seems necessaryCauliflower holds a surprising amount of water, and the flour in the cooking liquid makes it cling. Let the heads sit inverted in the colander for several minutes or the sauce will thin out and slide off the dome.
- Sauce quantityNo amount is given. About two cups of tomato sauce is enough to pour round the base of four heads without drowning them; the dome is meant to show.
- "Piquant sauce"A sharp brown sauce of the period, typically stock-based and finished with vinegar, shallot and gherkin or capers. A modern well-seasoned tomato sauce with a little vinegar reads much the same on the plate.
- YieldFour large heads will serve ten to twelve as a side dish. For a small table, one head pressed into a pint bowl gives the same effect at a quarter scale.