The "pith" of the cauliflower
When using cauliflower in a recipe, there is a lot of preparation work at the beginning: removing the leaves, taking the tops or florets, etc.
It's a bit tedious, but in the end you're left with the best of the cauliflower, ready to be used in your recipe.
It's a bit tedious, but in the end you're left with the best of the cauliflower, ready to be used in your recipe.
14 K 4.9/5 (14 reviews)
Keywords for this post:CauliflowerVegetablesBroccoliRecoveryTrimmingsLeftoversUseLast modified on: February 5th 2022
The "pith" of the cauliflower
We usually go through these 3 steps:
And it is only afterwards that the recipe really begins, the tops go into the cooking process for example.
But once we're done, the work surface is covered with cauliflower leaves and trimmings, and in particular with this:
Which is the center rib of the cauliflower, on which all the heads you patiently cut and removed were hanging.
This big white thing, which french chefs curiously call "the pith", we would be tempted to throw it in the compost with the rest of the trimmings, but that would be a shame.
In fact, it can be eaten, like the tops, you just have to cut it into pieces and then treat it like the rest of the cauliflower.
You will notice that, depending on the freshness of the cauliflower, it is slightly harder than the rest, but don't worry: start cooking with only the pith for 1 minute, and then continue by adding the rest, in the usual way.
Note that this process can be applied to other cabbages: broccoli, romanesco among others.
To sum up: Do not throw away the center of cauliflower, broccoli or romanesco cabbage, this part can be cooked with the rest of the vegetable.
And it is only afterwards that the recipe really begins, the tops go into the cooking process for example.
But once we're done, the work surface is covered with cauliflower leaves and trimmings, and in particular with this:
Which is the center rib of the cauliflower, on which all the heads you patiently cut and removed were hanging.
This big white thing, which french chefs curiously call "the pith", we would be tempted to throw it in the compost with the rest of the trimmings, but that would be a shame.
In fact, it can be eaten, like the tops, you just have to cut it into pieces and then treat it like the rest of the cauliflower.
You will notice that, depending on the freshness of the cauliflower, it is slightly harder than the rest, but don't worry: start cooking with only the pith for 1 minute, and then continue by adding the rest, in the usual way.
Note that this process can be applied to other cabbages: broccoli, romanesco among others.
To sum up: Do not throw away the center of cauliflower, broccoli or romanesco cabbage, this part can be cooked with the rest of the vegetable.
Lasts posts
Oven height
When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.October 8th 20251,5505
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20256,9353
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20256,3765
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20256,4835
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20254,6065
Other pages you may also like
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .February 7th 2017133 K 14.1
The golden-brown finish on puff pastry
Let's take a look at the tricky matter of producing puff pastry with an attractive, golden-brown finish. French pastry chefs call this "dorure" (literally, "gilding"). Behind this quirky term there lurks a real problem (and the solution): when using puff pastry (pâte feuilletée) for a pie, or...February 8th 201847 K 24.6
Remove bones from fish
Let's talk about fish: It's not a scoop, it's much more pleasant to eat fish from which all the bones have been carefully removed, even if it's a rather painful and time-consuming job, the result is worthy of your efforts. Here are some important points to keep in mind.October 16th 202114 K5
Candied fruits: don't get ripped off
Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.June 21th 201766 K 24.2
Egg yolks and caster sugar
We often come across recipes where we need to mix egg yolks with caster sugar. This would appear to be a very ordinary and simple thing to do but, be warned, these two ingredients can behave oddly together.February 15th 201882 K 24.3
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.