A whole cauliflower in the coals
Straight onto the embers, no foil and no oil. The outside goes black, and that is the point.
Do not wrap it
Every recipe that tells you to foil a cauliflower is protecting it from the thing that makes it good. You want direct contact with hot coals. The outer leaves char to carbon and act as the wrapper — nature got there first.
Leave the leaves on. Trim nothing except the very base so it sits flat. No oil: it will only burn, and taste of burnt oil.
Into the fire
Rake a bed of embers flat, no flames. Set the cauliflower straight on top, leaves down. Every ten minutes give it a quarter turn with tongs. It will look ruined within five minutes. Keep going.
After about forty-five minutes a skewer should pass through the middle without effort. Lift it out, let it cool enough to handle, and pull the blackened leaves away. What is underneath is pale, steaming and completely unlike roasted cauliflower.
What to put on it
Green Ash, or nothing. Olive oil and lemon if you have them. It feeds four people who were not expecting much, and it is the dish guests ask about most often at a catering job — which still surprises us, given what else is on that table.