Cauliflower (choufleur).—Trim these neatly, remov-
ing all unnecessary leaves, cut the stalk across to
make it stand level, then cut it across and across,
without, however, cutting through to the flower.
Now place it head down in a basin of acidulated and
salted cold water, and let it soak for an hour or two,
to remove any insects. To cook it, plunge it again
head downwards (this is to keep the flower white)
in plenty of boiling salted water, to which you have
added a little caster sugar (a teaspoonful to the gallon
of water is about right), and let it boil sharply un-
covered. Watch it carefully whilst cooking, for if
'overdone it' is utterly spoilt. (Never use a tinned
pan to cook cauliflowers in.) When cooked drain
well, and serve in a hot vegetable dish, either plain
or with any sauce to taste (such as béchamel, brown
butter, cream, curry, estragon, hollandaise, Morny,
tomato, white sauce, etc.), round, but not over it!
(Estragon sauce is plain melted butter or white sauce,
to which have been added a spoonful of finely minced
fresh tarragon, a drop or two of tarragon vinegar,
and a small piece of butter quite at the last.)
In France, the sauce, which is usually kept somewhat
thick for this purpose, is poured first into the dish,
the cauliflower being carefully stood up in the middle
of it. When cauliflowers are small or ill-grown, cook
them as above, then arrange them head down in a
pudding basin of suitable size (previously scalded
out with boiling water), arranging the florets neatly,
press them gently into shape, then lay the dish on
top of the basin, reverse the latter quickly, and remove
it; the cauliflower should turn out in a compact
tidy head. When served thus the sauce sent up with
it may be poured over as well as round it, for cauli-
flowers needing such treatment are seldom of a good
colour. One of the nicest sauces for these cauli-
flowers is Allemande, made thus: Take 1 oz. of white
roux, or stir together over the fire till quite smooth
1 oz. fresh butter and a spoonful of fine flour, then
moisten this with half a pint of milk or white
stock (or half and half), add a drop or two of essence
of mushroom, and stir it over the fire till it thickens and
is perfectly smooth; now lift it off the fire, add a
tiny pat of butter broken up small; and, when it is
pretty well dissolved, stir in the yolk of an egg pre-
viously beaten up with the strained juice of a lemon,
and use. It must be remembered that broccoli
can be served by any recipe given for cauliflower.
Cauliflowers lend themselves particularly well
to reheating, though of course a freshly cooked
vegetable may be used. The following are some
ways of treating cooked cauliflower:—