Part 13 (1/2)

--------------------------+----------+------------- 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 --------------------------+----------+-------------

a.n.a.lYSIS OF CAULIFLOWER ASH. (Whitner's Gardening in Florida).

Pota.s.sa 34.39 Soda 14.79 Lime 2.96 Magnesia 2.38 Sulphuric Acid 11.16 Silicic Acid 1.92 Phosphoric Acid 25.87 Phosphate of Iron 3.67 Chloride of Sodium 2.78

Cauliflower is not wholly free from the odor which renders the cooking of cabbage so unpleasant, but in this respect it is much less objectionable than cabbage. As with cabbage, this odor is in some cases more marked than in others, depending on the character of the soil, and the quant.i.ty and nature of the manure used. A small piece of red pepper added to the water in which cauliflower or cabbage is boiled prevents to a large extent this unpleasant odor and improves their flavor. To obviate the ”strong” flavor which these vegetables acquire when large quant.i.ties of stable manure are used the heads should be parboiled in the morning of the day on which they are wanted. They are then put on a hair sieve and placed in the larder. Twenty minutes before they are wanted for the table they are to be reboiled steadily until the strong taste is gone.

When cauliflowers are preserved in a shed or cellar they often become more or less wilted and strong in flavor, and can then be rendered palatable only by cutting them off from the stalks on the previous day and throwing them into cold, salted water, frequently changing it until they are wanted; in this way the heads become plumped up, and the strong disagreeable smell and taste which they have acquired is in some degree removed; but even under the most careful treatment they lose their fine, white cauliflower color.

To remove any caterpillars or other insects which may have found lodgment in the cauliflower head it should be examined as carefully as possible, opening it a little if necessary. It should then be placed top down in cold salt water for an hour; or, better still, in cold water and vinegar. This is believed to be particularly effective in dislodging any insect life that may be present. If the heads seem badly infested, however, which they seldom are, the only safe way is to break them up before cooking.

In cooking the heads whole, which is a favorite method, care is needed not to boil too long, so as to cause the head to come to pieces. To prevent any danger of breaking the head in cooking, it should be wrapped in cheese cloth or other similar material, in which it is to be handled.

Cauliflower is in season in this country from June until December, but is most abundant during the month of October. Those found in market during the hottest summer months are apt to be dark in color, somewhat strong in flavor, and filled with small leaves. Broccoli is cooked in nearly all cases precisely as cauliflower.

Porcelain lined or similarly guarded pots should be used in which to cook these vegetables, as iron is liable to impart to them a dark color.

The use of earthenware vessels in which to cook vegetables of the cabbage tribe is recommended as follows by a writer in the _American Garden_:

”To have any of the Bra.s.sicae in proper flavor we must go to the German housewives and learn of them to cook cabbage, cauliflower, etc., in earthenware instead of metal. The German potters make stout boilers, like huge bean-pots, that hold six or eight cabbages, for restaurant cooking, and they are quite a different vegetable treated in this way.

Try the experiment; put a cabbage in a stone jar with plenty of water, cover tight and boil till tender. I think it does not take as long to cook in this way as in ordinary kettles, the steady mild heat softening the tissues more steadily than the open boiling. And there is little or no smell to cabbage or onions cooked in a close stone pot in the oven. A cabbage baked in its own steam in such a pot and served with hot vinegar and b.u.t.ter is a high-flavored dish.”

A writer in the _Rural New Yorker_ sums up the prime requirements in cooking cauliflower as follows:

”Four rules never to be deviated from may be laid down: first, that the cauliflower is to be soaked in salt and water for at least a half hour before cooking, in order to drive out any insects or worms that may be lurking among the flowerets; second, (if to be boiled) when ready for cooking the vegetable is to be plunged into salted, thoroughly boiling water; third, it is not to be cooked a moment after it becomes tender; fourth, to be served as soon as done. Neglect of any of these points is sure to result in failure, while a careful following of them will give a wholesome, delicate dish, and one that will be eaten with gusto and remembered with pleasure.”

A very simple method of serving cauliflower is with milk and b.u.t.ter, after the manner of cabbage, but a more elaborate white sauce generally accompanies it. This is the familiar drawn b.u.t.ter sauce, to which may be added a little vinegar or lemon juice, to give piquancy of flavor.

Sometimes this sauce is varied by adding milk or cream to the flour and b.u.t.ter, when it is called ”cream sauce.”

The receipts given below are chiefly from the following four recent works on cookery:

”Good Living,” by Sara Van Buren Brugiere; G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1890.

”The Buckeye Cook-Book”; Buckeye Publis.h.i.+ng Company, Minneapolis, 1887.

”Our Home Cyclopedia,” by Edgar S. Darling; Mercantile Publis.h.i.+ng Company, Detroit, 1889.