Roasting a cauliflower whole - why?

Jul 31
3 min read

"for maximum impact"

This was going to be whole roast large vegetables - mostly brassicas it seemed - but I quickly found that cauliflower was where this particular thing began, so I am sticking to cauliflower for now. Maybe I'll do celeriac, cabbage, squash ... another time.

I confess that even though I have seen an increasing proliferation of the whole roast cauliflower thing I have often wondered why?

Surely those leaves, with their thick stalks, and the very thick core within are really not worth eating I have thought to myself. But I will admit I have never cooked one or tasted one, so I really cannot say. Others rave.

Mind you Nigel in his book Tender Volume 1 says:

"there was a vogue for cooking cauliflower whole. Yes, an entire head, coated in pale cheese sauce, its saw-edged leaves poking up around the edge, is a quietly beautiful sight. But I would rather break mine up a bit, making it easier to cook more evenly and less of a trial to serve. Or could it just be that you get more sauce doing it my way?"

Now that was written way back around 2007, so it is interesting to see him talk about there 'was' a vogue because actually the real trend apparently began with this guy - Israeli chef Eyal Shani - in 2011 when he 'revolutionised' how to cook cauliflower:

"what sets Shani’s dish apart from the rest is that it is parboiled in salted water and then drained like a potato to get rid of moisture and maintain texture." Drizzle and Drip

And by most accounts he did it first. Which I have to say is hard to believe. It originated in his Tel Aviv restaurant Miznon - a chain that has now spread around the world. There is even one here in Melbourne.

Sam of the Drizzle and Drip website tells you how to do it - the trick being the parboiling and the heavy charring. Then it's simply served resting on paper:

"Eaten by hand and broken off piece by piece, Shani's whole roasted cauliflower melts in your mouth with each bite." Claire Reden/Tasting Table

Various other cooks recommended the eating by hand thing as well. Messy - but convivial and different.

Because that's the thing about roasting a whole cauliflower isn't it? It's a statement. A centrepiece, and if done with enough flair it is obviously going to be a thing in today's image centred world.

Going back to Nigel who didn't seem to be all that keen back in 2007 in spite of then half recluctantly saying that:

"I sometimes cook the cauliflower whole. To ensure the head is cooked right the way through, hollow out the thickest part of the stem using a small knife, though it’s only necessary in the largest specimens."

And indeed lots of the recipes that I saw talked about small cauliflowers - which you might have if you grow your own, but which I have never seen here in Australia. But here in Australia we like our veggies large I suspect. And Nigel, since 2007, has actually come up with a few recipes for a whole roasted cauliflower, so maybe he has been persuaded it's a good thing.

Ottolenghi and Jamie have been credited for spreading the fad - so here are their two - Roasted whole cauliflower with crème fraïche - Ottolenghi/The Guardian and Spiced whole roast cauliflower - Jamie Oliver/delicious. Well I think they both have other versions but these are what I could find: