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Cauliflower is such a versatile vegetable.  Here are cauliflower recipes from 1920 to show how they were cooking cauliflower.  Mrs. Church’s recipe starts with tender cauliflower covered with breadcrumbs, butter, eggs and milk and baked until brown on the top.  Mrs. Raybourne makes her cauliflower by layering it with onions and topping with breadcrumbs, cheese and white sauce before baking until brown.

For help with oven temperatures, hop over to my measurement conversion page.

Mrs. Church’s Cauliflower En Casserole Recipe

Cook a cauliflower in boiling salted water until tender.  Separate the cauliflower into flowerettes and place them in the casserole.  Cover the cauliflower with breadcrumbs and bits of butter.  Beat up two eggs, add a cup of milk, season with a teaspoonful of salt and dash of pepper.  Mix these ingredients well and pour over the cauliflower and crumbs.  Bake in a slow oven for thirty or forty minutes, brown the top and serve.

Mrs. M. L. Church, Berkeley.  Source: San Francisco Chronicle – 18 Apr 1920

Mrs. Raybourne’s Escalloped Onions and Cauliflower Recipe

Cook a medium-sized head of cauliflower and 4 medium-sized onions separately.  Place a layer of onions in buttered baking dish and season with salt, pepper and bits of butter.  Then a layer of bread crumbs and layer of cauliflower with seasoning and butter, and so on until onions and cauliflower are all used.  Sprinkle top with bread crumbs and cheese; pour over all a cup of thin white sauce, and bake until crumbs are browned on top.  Will serve four persons generously.

Mrs. H. A. Raybourne, Fresno.  Source: San Francisco Chronicle – 1 Feb 1920

Ms. Wright’s Cauliflower Aigrettes Recipe

Boil some cauliflower and break it into sprigs, season them and coat them with a cheese sauce and leave until cold.  Then coat them with frying butter mixed with an ounce of ham and teaspoonful of chopped parsley to each half-pint.  Fry and serve in a ring with fried parsley in the center.  This is a very good savory.  It has a nice appearance, owing to the feathery shapes of the sprigs.

Ms. Marie Wright, 1298 Union Street, City.  Source: San Francisco Chronicle – 9 May 1920