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Cauliflower Sautes
Remove the outer leaves of a good-sized, firm, white cauliflower. Drop it into a saucepan containing half gallon boiling water with a tablespoon salt and boil for thirty-five minutes. Remove, drain on a sieve, then carefully detach all the branches with the flowers from the main stalk. Heat in a small frying pan two tablespoons melted butter and add the cauliflower. Season with a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon white pepper; toss well once in a while, while cooking on the fire for five minutes. Dress on a hot dish and serve.
A plain two-stage vegetable dish: boil, break into florets, finish in butter. Only the boiling time needs real intervention.
- Cut the boiling timeThirty-five minutes was normal when cauliflower was expected to be soft enough to eat with a spoon, but it leaves the florets waterlogged and sulphurous. A whole head needs about 10-15 minutes in salted boiling water, or 5-7 minutes if you cut it into florets first; a knife should meet slight resistance at the stem.
- Half gallon of waterEight cups, which is just enough to cover a medium head in a deep saucepan. Use more if the head floats above the surface, and keep the tablespoon of salt in proportion.
- Drain properlyThe sieve step is the hinge of the recipe. Cauliflower holds water in the crevices between florets, and any that survives into the frying pan will steam rather than fry. Let it sit on the sieve several minutes, and pat the florets dry before they go into the butter.
- Season with restraintA further teaspoon of salt on top of vegetables already boiled in salted water will be too much for most palates. Salt lightly in the pan and correct at the table. White pepper is the usual choice for pale dishes because it leaves no dark flecks; black pepper will do if you do not mind the specks, though the flavour is not quite the same.
- "Melted butter"Simply butter melted in the pan. Two tablespoons for one head is a moderate amount; let it foam before the florets go in.
- Handle gentlyCooked florets break down readily. "Toss well once in a while" means occasional turning with a spatula rather than the vigorous shaking you would give green beans, or the dish arrives as crumbs.
- Yield and servingOne good-sized head serves four as a side dish. "Dress on a hot dish" means arrange the florets on a warmed platter and pour the pan butter over.
Cauliflower sauté follows a common French-derived vegetable treatment found in many turn-of-the-century American cookbooks: boil in salted water, then finish in butter in a pan, a treatment applied to cauliflower, potatoes, artichoke bottoms and salsify alike. Whiteness was prized in cauliflower of the period, which may be part of why white pepper is called for. Cauliflower had been grown in European kitchen gardens since about the sixteenth century and is generally traced to the eastern Mediterranean; by 1900 it was common enough in American markets to appear in a general-purpose collection like this one without comment.