COOKING CAULIFLOWER.
"Of all the flowers in the garden, I like the Cauliflower best."
Dr. Samuel Johnson.
Dr. Johnson appreciated good living, and therefore it is not surprising that he should have left on record this tribute to the most delicate and finely flavored of all the cabbage family.
Cauliflower is so rarely seen in market in the United States, except in large cities, that comparatively few of our people are accustomed to using it. On this account a variety of receipts for cooking cauliflower are here given, in order to make the methods of using this excellent vegetable more widely known. Americans, especially, need to become familiar with its use; for to the English, French, and Germans, who have known it in the Old World, it needs no introduction.
Cauliflower lends itself readily to both plain and fancy methods of cooking. It is easy of digestion, and is an especial favorite with those who, from any reason, are unable to readily digest cabbage. Besides, it is more nutritious than the cabbage, and it is not exceeded in this particular by any other garden vegetable.
The following tables show the comparative composition of fresh cabbage and cauliflower, and the composition of the ash of the latter. It will be noticed that the percentage of ash and indigestible fibre is low in the cauliflower, and the amount of nitrogenous and starchy matter high.
ANALYSIS OF CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER.
(König's Nohrungsmittel, pp. 715, 717).
| Cabbage. | Cauliflower. | |
| Water | 89.97 | 90.87 |
| Nitrogenous bodies | 1.89 | 2.48 |
| Fat | 0.20 | 0.34 |
| Sugar | 2.29 | 1.21 |
| Nitrogen free extract | 2.58 | 3.34 |
| (starch, dextrine, etc.) | ||
| Fiber | 1.84 | 0.91 |
| Ash | 1.23 | 0.83 |