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Scalloped Cauliflower
Break the cauliflower into small sprigs and cook in boiling salted water until tender. Place the pieces in a buttered pudding dish and pour over them a sauce made as follows: Mix well together one-half pint of bread crumbs, one pint of sweet milk, one beaten egg, two teaspoons of salt and a little pepper. Bake until slightly browned. One cup of diced chicken or veal added to the sauce makes a great improvement. When this is used allow an extra cup of milk and a little more seasoning.-M. F. S.
A bread-and-milk custard poured over boiled cauliflower — closer to a savory pudding than the crumb-topped gratin the word "scalloped" suggests today. Two things need attention: the salt and the missing oven temperature.
- The salt is too muchThe salt is heavy -- Two teaspoons for a pint of milk and a cup of crumbs will taste harsh with modern table salt. Start with three-quarters of a teaspoon and adjust.
- Oven temperatureNone is given, as was normal. An egg-and-milk custard wants 350F; hotter and it curdles and weeps. Figure 35 to 45 minutes, until the center is just set and the top is lightly colored.
- Archaic measuresOne-half pint of bread crumbs is one cup, one pint of milk is two cups. "Sweet milk" simply means fresh whole milk, distinguished in period books from sour or buttermilk.
- CrumbsSoft crumbs torn from day-old bread are the likely intention; dry commercial crumbs absorb far more liquid and give a pasty set. If using dry crumbs, cut back to roughly two-thirds of a cup.
- Don't overcook the cauliflowerIt gets a second cooking in the oven. Boil the sprigs 4 to 6 minutes, until barely tender, and drain them well — wet florets thin the custard and it will not set.
- The chicken or veal must already be cookedThe chicken or veal is presumably already cooked -- the addition reads as a use for leftover roast or boiled meat. Use cooked meat rather than raw.
- Dish and yieldA buttered 1 1/2-quart baking dish holds one medium head with the sauce; serves four to six as a side, or four as a supper dish with the meat added.
"Scalloped" in nineteenth-century American cookery covered a range of dishes baked with milk or sauce and crumbs, and the crumbs were often stirred through rather than merely strewn on top — this recipe is the older sense, a custard bound with bread rather than a browned topping over cream sauce. Good Housekeeping, founded in 1885, drew many of its early recipes from readers, who sent in family formulas that were printed over their initials; the "—M. F. S." at the end is the whole attribution, which suggests a compilation of household practice rather than the work of a single test kitchen. The variation at the end, adding a cup of leftover chicken or veal to turn a vegetable side into a main dish, fits the period's habit of economy.