Trim off the outside leaves, and put the cauliflower into well-salted
boiling water. Be careful to take it out as soon as tender, to prevent
it dropping into pieces. Make, in a saucepan, a white sauce as follows:
Put butter the size of an egg into the saucepan, and when it bubbles
stir in a scant half tea-cupful of flour; stir well with an egg-whisk
until cooked; then add two tea-cupfuls of thin cream, some pepper and
salt. Stir it over the fire until perfectly smooth. Pour the sauce over
the cauliflower, and serve. Many let the cauliflower simmer in the sauce
a few moments before serving. The _sauce Hollandaise_ is very fine for
cauliflower.
[Illustration]
Cauliflower is delicious served as a garnish around fried spring
chickens, or with fried sweet-breads, when the white sauce should be
poured over both. In this case, it should be made by adding the cream,
flour, and seasoning to the little grease (half a tea-spoonful) that is
left after _sautéing_ the chickens or sweet-breads. Time to cook,
fifteen minutes, if small; twenty minutes, if large.