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Cauliflower Boiled

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United Kingdom

Known as a British recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.

Ingredients 5 ingredients

  1. a tablespoonful of salt
  2. Water
  3. Soda
  4. Cut
  5. White sauce

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. Cauliflowers should be cut just before using, so that they may be quite crisp.
  2. All the leaves but the small ones close to the flower should be discarded, as the flavour of the coarser leaves would taint the delicacy of the flower.
  3. Let them stand, head downwards, in strong salted water for half an hour before boiling ;
  4. by this means caterpillars will be cleared out.
  5. Have a large saucepan of boiling water, with a tablespoonful of salt and a piece of soda the size of a pea.
  6. Put the cauliflowers in, and when the water boils up, draw to one side and partially remove the lid to let the fumes escape, otherwise the flavour will not be so deHcate.
  7. Time required, twenty minutes to half an hour, according to the size of the cauliflower.
  8. Lift out by thrusting a fork through the thick part of the stalk and place carefully on a hot drainer in a hot dish.
  9. The flower should be unbroken.
  10. Pour over a rich white sauce, and serve.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Large pot
  • Saucepan
  • Chef's knife