Cauliflower and Broccoli (Chou-fleur et Broccoli)

Chou-fleur et brocoli (cauliflower and broccoli) teaches the cleanest rule in vegetable cookery: water cooks the center, butter finishes the surface. The one true thing to know before touching the skillet is that blanched vegetables must be dry. Leave water clinging to them and they simmer in diluted butter; dry them well and the butter can bronze their edges before settling into a fine gloss.

The source entry assumed a brigade blanching vegetables in volume and a cook who already understood that a large, firmly headed broccoli could follow cauliflower's treatment. For this sautéed preparation, no saucier, stockpot, or salamander is called for; the honest home equivalent is one saucepan, one wide skillet, and four servings. Holding great batches for service is brigade scaffolding and goes. Blanching to the right resistance, drying thoroughly, and finishing in real butter are the dish, so they stay.

At the table, the cauliflower should remain ivory with small bronze faces, while the broccoli keeps its green or violet color and a little firmness beneath the teeth. The butter gathers around both without drowning either. Before the vegetables meet the pan, dry every cut surface until it looks matte. That is the step that decides everything.