Purée De Chou-fleur dite à la Dubarry

Purée de chou-fleur dite à la Dubarry (cauliflower purée in the Dubarry manner) teaches the difference between flavor and structure. The cauliflower must remain unmistakably itself; firm creamed potato enters at exactly one-quarter of the cauliflower purée's bulk, not to announce potato, but to hold the spoonful upright. That is the one true thing to know before you touch the pan.

The source entry assumed a tamis, the drum sieve it calls a tammy, and an entremetier with several pans under watch. At home, a fine-mesh sieve and flexible scraper give the same silken result for four; there is no stockpot to tend and no salamander to replace. The brigade's staging is scaffolding and can go. The quarter-volume potato, thorough draining, and butter folded in away from the fire are the dish, so they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Finished well, the Dubarry is ivory, light enough to taste of cauliflower, and firm enough to rise in a soft mound from its warm timbale, with butter giving sheen rather than grease. The decisive step is drying the cooked cauliflower before it meets the potato; carry excess water into the sieve and no amount of mashing will give the purée its poise.