Cauliflower Soup

About the dish

Erken adds a longer explanation of how cauliflower is cleaned: "The cauliflower is cleaned in the usual way; what does that mean? Well, cauliflower, which is one of our most valuable vegetables with greater nutritional value and a milder flavor than the other cabbage kinds, should before cooking be placed in vinegar and water — 1 tablespoon vinegar to each liter of water — for about an hour to be cleansed of worms and larvae. Salt water may also be used. The cauliflower looks nicest if given a couple of minutes in boiling water, then doused with cold water and after that into the boiling water in which it is finally to be boiled tender. It also becomes white and tasty by boiling it in sweet milk, though this is only for company use. Salt must be added only at the very end if boiling in milk; if the milk curdles anyway, the cauliflower must be rinsed with boiling water. If you boil the cauliflower in milk, you must use meat stock to prepare the soup."

How to make it

1. 1

   Clean the cauliflower

   Clean the cauliflower: place it for about an hour in vinegar water (1 tablespoon vinegar per liter of water) or salt water to draw out worms and larvae. Cut a cross in the stalk so that stalk and flower become tender at the same time.

2. 2

   Boil the cauliflower

   Put the cauliflower in the boiling, salted water together with the leek and celeriac. The cauliflower head can be set on a kitchen fork hung on the edge of the pot, so it is kept under water the whole time. Boil until the cauliflower is well half-cooked.

3. 3

   Boil down the stock

   Lift out the cauliflower, divide it into small florets and put all the stalks back into the water. Boil until everything is cooked down and press the stock through a colander.

4. 4

   Thicken the soup

   Melt 75 g butter, stir in the flour and thin with the cauliflower stock. Let the soup simmer for half an hour.

5. 5

   Finish

   Put the half-cooked cauliflower florets into the soup and continue cooking until they are tender.

6. 6

   Thicken with egg

   Whisk the egg yolks thick with a pinch of salt, whisk in a little of the hot soup and pour everything into the tureen. Season with salt and stir in the rest of the butter in small pieces. Sprinkle parsley over the top.