Civil War Recipe Tutorial :

 Cauliflower Maccaroni

Original Recipe:
Having removed the outside leaves, and cut off the stalk, wash the cauliflower, and examine it thoroughly to see if there are any insects about it. Next lay it for an hour in a pan of cold water. Then put it into a pot of boiling milk and water that has had a little fresh butter melted in it.

Whatever scum may float on top of the water must be removed before the cauliflower goes in. Boil it, steadily, half an hour, or till it is quite tender. Then take it out, drain it, and cut it into short sprigs. Have ready three ounces of rich, but not strong cheese, grated fine.

 Put into a stew-pan a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, nearly half of the grated cheese, two large table-spoonfuls of cream or rich milk; and a very little salt and cayenne. Toss or shake it over the fire, till it is well mixed, and has come to a boil. Then add the tufts of cauliflower, and let the whole stew together about five minutes.

 When done, put it into a deep dish; strew over the top the remaining half of the grated cheese, and brown it with a salamander or a red hot shovel held above the surface. This will be found very superior to real maccaroni.

Source:
Ladies' Receipt Book by Eliza Leslie, 1847

Modern Day Adaptation:
Orders followed precisely, although we confess we did not "examine [our cauliflower] thoroughly to see if there are any insects about it." A little extra protein never hurt anybody, and besides, all the soaking and boiling would take care of the bugs anyway. The "salamander" treatment does not require waving a lizard over the dish but rather that it be put under the broiler.

Results:
While the taste of this dish was excellent, the consistency of the vegetable can only be described as "mushy." It is possible that Miss Leslie intended this for vegetables which had been stored for a period of time and were therefore dried out. For modern grocery-bought produce we suggest reducing the boiling time to 15 or 20 minutes. The cheese sauce was superb, clinging to the cauliflower rather than running off to pool in a morose puddle at the bottom of the dish. Of course it should be great considering the quantity of butter, full-fat cheese and real cream involved.

We suspect that these quantities can be modified to suit modern sensibilities in the matter of fats, but do not omit the cayenne pepper. It does not make it taste spicy at all but probably helps stimulate the other flavors. Rated a "10" by all. Oh, and Miss Leslie does not give a recipe for "real maccaroni" so we really don't know what to compare this to, nor where the name comes from, or the extra "c" for that matter.