Required: One cauliflower. Boiling water. Salt. Half a pint of white sauce.

Cut off the stalk quite close to the flower, and notch it across twice. Trim off all withered and outside coarse leaves, and cut the others level with the flower.

Hold it sideways under the tap and let the cold water flow through it, so as to wash out all insects. Then, if possible, let it be for an hour in cold salted water; the salt will draw out any insects which have not been washed out.

Rinse it again, then put it, with the flower downwards, in a pan of boiling water, with a large teaspoonful of salt to each two quarts of water. Do not put the lid on the pan, and let the cauliflower boil gently until it is tender, but not in the least broken. It will probably take from fifteen to twenty minutes after the water has reboiled; but this, of course, will depend on the size of the cauliflower.

Cassolettes Of Cucumber

Carefully skim off all scum as it rises. As soon as the cauliflower is tender (and this is best ascertained by sticking a skewer into the stalk), raise it out of the water on a fishslice, let all the water drain off, and press the cauliflower lightly together with a clean cloth. Lay it neatly in a hot vegetable-dish, and pour the white sauce over it.