Cauliflower with Various Sauces

Chou-fleur aux sauces diverses (cauliflower with various sauces) teaches separation. The cauliflower is cooked whole in salted water and presented without disguise; the chosen sauce arrives beside it, rich enough to complete each serving without drowning the head. The one true thing is drainage. A spoonful of water trapped among the florets can undo the finest emulsion.

The old entry assumes a saucier on staff and several finished sauces waiting for service. The stockpot that never went cold and the salamander have no work here, so there is no reason to imitate the rest of the brigade. The honest home equivalent is one cauliflower and one cup of one sauce, enough for four and brief enough that a warm emulsion never waits too long. One cook, one stove, one evening.

The array of sauces and separate hands are brigade scaffolding and can go. The whole head, salted-water cooking, complete drainage, and sauce served apart are the dish and must stay. Before you touch the pot, remember what matters most: drain the cauliflower until it has no water left to dilute what goes beside it.