Cauliflower Sauce

A roux-based white sauce enriched with stock and finished with cauliflower florets, meant to be spooned over boiled or poached fish. Everything hinges on cooking the roux and the florets separately, then combining at the last moment.

• White Stock IIIA cross-reference to a numbered stock elsewhere in the book, most likely a light veal or chicken stock. Any mild homemade chicken or veal stock works; if using commercial stock, choose a low-sodium one and season at the end.
• The proportions are not thinFour tablespoons of flour to two cups of liquid gives what modern cooks call a medium white sauce, thick enough to coat. If you want the pouring consistency the name implies, halve the flour and butter, or thin the finished sauce with extra scalded milk.
• Cook the roux before adding liquidMelt the butter, stir in the flour and let it bubble a minute or two without browning. Skipping this leaves a raw-flour taste that no amount of simmering afterward will fully clear.
• Scalded milkMilk heated to just below boiling, until it steams and shows bubbles at the rim. Warm liquid blends into a roux with less lumping; add it gradually, whisking, then the stock.
• Cook the cauliflower separatelyBoil or steam the florets in salted water until just tender, 4 to 6 minutes for small pieces, and drain them well. Cauliflower held in a hot sauce keeps softening and will break down into mush; fold it in off the heat, just before serving.
• Small cauliflowerRoughly a pound to a pound and a half of head, giving a couple of cups or more of small florets. Break them down to bite size so the sauce can be spooned rather than carved.
• YieldTwo cups of liquid plus the florets, enough to sauce several portions.