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Cauliflower
Place a head of cauliflower, from which the leaves have been removed, in uncovered saucepan, stem end down; cover with boiling water; boil 35 minutes or until tender and serve with Thin Cream Sauce. If cauliflower is small, outside leaves may be boiled until tender, chopped fine and mixed with sauce.
A plain boiled cauliflower with a white sauce, written when vegetables were cooked far past what we would accept. The method is sound; the clock is not.
- The timing is the thingThirty-five minutes will reduce a whole head to grey mush with a strong sulfurous smell. A whole trimmed head takes about 12-18 minutes in boiling water depending on size; florets take 5-8. Test the thickest part of the stem with a knife tip and pull it the moment it gives.
- Why stem end down, uncoveredThe dense core takes longer to soften than the curd, which is the likely reason for standing the head stem down, though here it is fully submerged anyway. Leaving the pan uncovered lets sulfur compounds escape, which keeps the smell down.
- Salt the waterThe original says only boiling water. Use about a tablespoon of salt per gallon; cauliflower boiled in plain water tastes flat no matter what sauce goes over it.
- Thin Cream SauceStandard usage of the period for a thin white sauce: roughly 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon flour cooked together, then 1 cup milk whisked in and simmered until it just coats a spoon, seasoned with salt and a little pepper. A medium sauce would use double the butter and flour.
- The leavesWorth doing regardless of head size. The recipe means the outside leaves; the tender ones and the stalk are good eating. Chop and boil them separately for a few minutes, since they cook faster than the core, and fold them into the sauce.
- YieldA head of about 2 lb serves four as a side dish.
Cauliflower is a cultivated form of Brassica oleracea, the same species as cabbage, kale and broccoli, bred so that the flowering head aborts into a dense white curd; the English name is usually traced to Latin caulis floris, cabbage flower, reaching English by way of Italian and French forms. It reached English and American kitchens as a somewhat genteel vegetable, more expensive than cabbage and usually treated to a white sauce rather than boiled bacon. A flour-thickened cream sauce was the standard printed vehicle for almost any boiled vegetable in the period, and whole boiled cauliflower under a white blanket made a presentable dish at a family table. The long boil reflects a belief of the era that vegetables were unwholesome until thoroughly softened.