The encyclopædia of practical cookery

Cauliflower with Cream Sauce. — In the usual way Cauliflower takes from half to three-quarters-of-an-hour to cook, and it should not boil rapidly or it will destroy the small flowerets. Try the stems with a fork, and remove as soon as tender. Put a piece of bicarbonate of soda the size of a bean into the water, and this will hasten the cooking without injuring the vegetable. Divide the Cauliflower into portions of convenient size before cooking, and when drained and dished up pour 1 or 2 table-spoonfuls of good strained cream sauce over each portion. Cauliflower Cream Soup. — (1) The clear white broth that has had an old fowl boiled tender in it is best for such a soup as this, and any pieces or bones from the breakfast or dinner meats may be put into the stockpot with it to make it richer. Take lqt., more or less, of stock, 1 pint of rich milk, 1 pint of cooked Cauliflower sprays, 1 table-spoonful of butter, salt, and white pepper, 1 table-spoonful of minced parsley, half a blade of mace, and a small allowance of any vegetables at hand, Cauliflower being the principal one. If cooked for the purpose, pick the Cauliflower into little branches, and boil it separately in salted water for half-an-hour. Strain off lqt. of the stock clear and free from grease into a saucepan, and boil it with 1 table-spoonful of minced onion ; then mash 1 breakfast-cupful of cooked Cauliflower, and put it in ; boil 1 pint of rich milk, and add that ; season with a little white pepper and salt ; thicken, if not thick enough already, till it looks like thin cream, with flour-andwater thickening ; then add 1 table-spoonful of butter, and the other breakfast-cupful of cooked Cauliflower branches, and sprinkle with 1 table-spoonful of minced parsley. (2) Pull the Cauliflower into separate branches, and boil them for half-an-hour in salted water. Strain lqt. of stock into a saucepan, and skim off all the fat ; mash about half of the Cauliflower, put it into the soup with a finely-minced onion, and boil it. Put a lump of butter into another saucepan with 1 table-spoonful of flour, ■and stir it over the fire for a few minutes ; then pour in gradually 1 pint of new milk, season with pepper and salt, and boil it. Pour the thickened milk into the soup, add the remainder of the Cauliflower branches, not mashing them, and 1 table-spoonful of finely-chopped parsley. Serve in a tureen with a plateful of sippets of toast, or of croutons of fried bread. Some clear chicken broth is best for the above soup, and any pieces of meat or bones may be put into it to make it richer. Cauliflower Fritters. — Cut into equal-sized pieces two wellboiled Cauliflowers, dip each piece into thick yellow or white sauce, and set them aside to cool. Take them up with a spoon, put them into a basin of frying batter, plunge them into a frying-pan of boiling fat, and fry to a good colour. Serve very hot on a napkin spread over a dish (see Fig. 3S8). If preferred, the pieces of Cauliflower may be dipped into a mixture of vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper in place of the batter, and then fried. For details respecting Culinary Processes, Utensils, Sauces, etc. , referred to, see under their special heads. Cauliflowers — continued.