Cauliflower Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Put the cauliflower in boiling water, add a handful of salt, boil until tender, then strain.
Make a thick white sauce of milk, butter, and flour.
Assemble and brown
Pour the sauce over the cauliflower in a deep dish.
Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese over it.
Brown in the oven.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Flour (in the method)
- Its starch swells in hot liquid, thickening the milk into a sauce that coats the cauliflower.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds fat for richness and smooth mouthfeel in the white sauce.
- Milk (in the method)
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which flour thickens.
- Parmesan cheese (in the method)
- Melts and browns in the oven, adding savory flavor to the top.
The step that matters
Make the thick white sauce. Flour's starch only thickens fully when it is heated in the liquid until it swells. If the sauce is undercooked or lumpy, it stays thin and may taste floury, so stir steadily while it heats.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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