A Ragout of Cauliflower

Ingredients

• One cauliflower
• a quarter of a pound of butter
• a tablespoonful of water
• half a pint of rich gravy
• pepper and salt

Method

1. 1

   Soak cauliflower, melt butter with water, add cauliflower, and cook until tender.

2. 2

   Dust with flour, season, add gravy, stir, and serve hot.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Virginia Cookery-book (1884) by Mary Stuart Smith, page 73. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

pepper and salt ; boil it very gently till re- duced to two quarts ; strain it through a sieve ; next day take off the fat, turn out the jelly, and separate it from the dregs at the bottom ; put it on the fire with half a pint of white-wine, a large spoonful of lemon-pickle, and the whites and shells of four eggs beaten up; when it boils clear on one side run it through the jelly-bag. Salmagundi. Pick and wash three good Dutch lettuces, cut them as fine as threads, and lay them at the bottom of a dish; cut the flesh from the breasts of two roasted chickens. It must be in slices as long and broad as one's finger, not thicker than a small coin. Spread these carefully over the let- tuces in regular circles, leaving spaces between them; wash and bone half a dozen fine anchovies, cut each into eight pieces, and lay them regularly between the slices of chicken ; then cut the legs of the chickens into small square pieces like dice ; cut a good - sized lemon into square pieces in the same manner; boil four eggs hard, take out the yolks, mince them and mix with them some chopped parsley and four anchovies, minced very small; boil some onions as big as walnuts till they are very white and tender ; then pile up the minced anchovy and egg in the middle of the dish like a sugar-loaf, lay the onions round it, and lay others thickly round the edge of the dish; when all is thus done mix some oil and vinegar m VIMQINIA coqkjsht-bqqk. very well, beating it up with salt and pepper, and pour it carefully over the wbol^ dish; then nerv© it up. It is soon ready for eating, and ms^^es a pretty s^ppearaqce. There is ^.s mvch ta^te ^bowu in fixing up 2^ salmagundi as in any made dish whatever. A Pig in Jblly.* Set oil 9, stewps^n with a calf's foot, split, and a quart of water ; let this stew gently a considerable time, then put in a small pig cut into quarters; put in the feet, add three or four blades of mace, four cloves, a little grated lemon*peel, and some salt; let this boil for some time over a slow fiye ; then put in a pint of strong white-wine and the juice of four lemons ; let it boil two hours ; then lay the pig in a dish, strain off the liquor, and set it by to cool ; then take off the fat from the top and the settling from the bottom ; let the pig be cold ; then warm the jelly and pour it over the pig, and let it again stand to get cold. Serve it up as a cold dish. Garnish with fresh parsley and pieces of lemon cut small, with the peel upon them. A Rag6ut op Ham. Cut some thin slices from the hock end of a fine bam, beat these well with a roUing-pin, and lay them carefully in a stewpan, without any addition whatever ; cover these up close, and set them ovei* a gentle fire to stew. Ob- serve when they begin to stick to the pan, then dust in a little flour, move them gently over the fire, and pour in a little rich veal gravy, made purposely without any salt; put in two small bunches of sweet herbs and some pep- * In Virginia the term pig is never applied to a grown hog. A pig when roasted whole is preferred very young, so as not to weigh over twelve pounds. Bhote is the meat of a half-gro¥m bog ; pork, the meat of the full-grown animal when fit for curing. VIMOINIA COQKERT'BOOK, \5X peri ^ blade of mace broken, and one clove whole. Ijet tbifl be set on again over a gentle fire, and covered up ; when it has stood about a quarter of an hour simmering take out the sweet herbs and skim off the fat, then thick- en it up, and pour it into a small dish. Send it up hot. This dish is not only useful as a dish for lunch or supper, but serves excellently as a garnish to any larger dish composed of bacon. A Ragout of Swbetbrsads. Choose a couple of fine veal sweetbreads, throw them into a pot of boiling water, and have ready a pan of the coldest water you can get. When the sweetbreads have been a few minutes in the boiling water throw them into the cold, and let them lie there a little ; double a cloth three or four times and spread it out upon the dresser, take the sweetbreads out of the water, lay them upon this cloth, aud cover them with another ; thus dry them per- fectly. Put them into a saucepan with a quarter of a pound of butter, toss them up, and add some pepper and salt, and a little bundle of sweet herbs ; then cut to pieces some large, fresh mushrooms, and put into the saucepan ; then put in some fresh ones whole, and very small, set it over a fire, let it simmer longer, and then take out the bundle of herbs ; put in some rich veal gravy, and set it on again ; then, after it has been cooking for some time, skim off the fat, and thicken it up ; serve it hot, without any garnish. This, like the recipe preceding it, is used sometimes for a dish of itself, and sometimes for garnish of others. A Rag6ut of Truffles. Cut some truffles into very thin slices, and lay them over -night to soak in some strong veal gravy. In the morning heat them up, throw in two cloves and a blade 152 VIRGINIA VOOKEHYBOOK. of mace torn to pieces, and set them on to boil up ; then take them off the fire. There must be only just as much of the veal gravy as will moisten them thoroughly ; let them stand now till near the time they are wanted ; they will be perfectly soft, and fully and richly impregnated with the strength of the gravy ; then pour in enough es- sence of a gammon of bacon to make the whole somewhat thin, set it on to stew again, and then thicken it up with a lump of butter rolled in flour. If this rag6ut is served up as a separate dish garnish it with sliced lemon. When using it as a sauce for some other elegant dish see that the main dish has something congruous in its nature, for there is nothing so wrong as to join things of unlike taste, that only spoil one another. A Rag6ut op Caumploweb. One cauliflower is sufficient for a dish, but let it be a very fine one, and lay it in cold spring-water a few min- utes before proceeding to pick it in pieces. Melt a quar- ter of a pound of butter in a stewpan, with a table-spoon- ful of water. When it is melted throw in the cauliflower thus cut into small pieces ; shake this about until the cauli- flower is tender, then dust in a little flour, and toss about the pan ; season it with pepper and salt, and when it is thus far done heat half a pint of rich gravy

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.