The Cauliflower

by A. A. Crozier

Note:—This omelette makes a fine dressing to pour hot over fried chicken when ready to send to the table.

29. Cauliflower Soup (Mr. S. J. Soyer). Two and a half quarts bouillon, one and a half pint milk, two or three cauliflowers, two and a half ounces butter, one and a half ounce flour, sugar, salt.

The cauliflowers are cleaned, and boiled almost ready, taken out and put on a sieve, and the soup preserved. The butter and flour are baked together; and with the milk, bouillon, sugar and salt added to the decoction from the cauliflowers. These are then cut into proper pieces and put into the soup, which is subjected to a quick boil and then served with bread dumplings: crumbs of white bread moistened with milk, melted butter, dotter of eggs, and the whites beaten to a stiff froth—the mass rolled into balls, and boiled until they float.

30. Cauliflower Cream Soup (Rural New Yorker).—Boil the cauliflower in salt water until nearly done. For a small head, bring another quart of water (or milk and water) to boil, adding half an onion, or a bit of spice if desired, and thicken it as for drawn butter sauce, with an ounce of butter and some flour. Boil the cauliflower in the liquid until soft, then put the whole through a colander; return to the fire, and add a cup of cream; simmer for five minutes, and serve at once, with squares of fried bread.

31. Broccoli (American Garden).—Broccoli is a pleasant change from cabbage and cauliflower, either as a salad or a side dish. To dress it, strip off the little branches, till the top one is left, then with a sharp knife peel off all the hard skin on the stalks and branchlets and throw them into water. When the water in the stewpan boils, put in the broccoli and cook till tender, salting in the last five minutes. Serve with toast dipped in the broccoli water, laying the stalks over it, and eat with vinegar and melted butter. Or, let it get cold, cut in small bits, and serve as salad with oil and vinegar, with lemon juice, garnished with nasturtium buds. Or, serve a large round of toast, the size of a dinner plate, moistened with broccoli water, salted and buttered, with nicely poached eggs laid on it, and sprigs of hot broccoli set thickly between, dusting with fine salt. Cauliflower and solid white cabbage may be served the same way.

32. Egg Broccoli (Home Cyclopedia).—Take half a dozen heads of broccoli, cut off the small shoots or blossoms and lay them aside for frying; trim the stalks short and pare off the rough rind up to the head, wash them well and lay them in salt water for an hour, then put them into plenty of boiling water (salted) and let them boil fast till quite tender. Put two ounces of butter into a saucepan, and stir it over a slow fire till it is melted; then add gradually six or eight well-beaten eggs and stir the mixture until it is thick and smooth. Lay the broccoli in the center of a large dish, pour the egg around it, and, having fried the broccoli blossoms, arrange them in a circle near the edge of the dish.

33. Pickled (Mrs. M. P. A. Crozier).—Break at the natural divisions, steam till tender, and place in a jar of cold vinegar with mustard and red peppers.

34. Pickled (Gardener's Text Book).—Place the heads in a keg, and sprinkle them liberally with salt. Let them remain thus for about a week, when you may turn over them scalding hot vinegar, prepared with one ounce of mace, one ounce of peppercorns, and one ounce of cloves to every gallon. Draw off the vinegar, and return it scalding hot several times until the heads become tender.

35. Pickled (Rural New Yorker).—Break the heads into small sprays, throw them into a kettle of scalding brine; let them come to a boil, and drain carefully, so as not to break them; pack in stone or glass jars, and cover with scalding vinegar seasoned as follows: To one gallon of vinegar allow one cup of white sugar, half an ounce of mace, one ounce of peppercorns, two or three red pepper pods broken into bits, and a tablespoonful each of coriander seed, celery seed, and white mustard. Pour this hot over the cauliflowers and seal at once. Glass jars are the most convenient, as they may be examined frequently to see if their contents are keeping well. If not, repeat the scalding. In all pickles the vinegar should be two inches or more above the vegetables, as it is sure to shrink, and if the vegetables are not thoroughly immersed in vinegar they will not keep.

36. Pickled (Home Cyclopedia).—Choose such as are firm, yet of their full size; cut away all the leaves and pare the stalks; pull away the flowers in bunches, steep in brine two days, then drain them, wipe them dry, and put them in hot pickle, or merely infuse for three days three ounces of curry powder in every quart of vinegar.