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Cauliflower Au Gratin

A baked cauliflower dish topped with Parmesan cheese, white sauce, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cauliflower and parmesan cheese work together. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 138 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cauliflower Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Divide the cold boiled cauliflower and arrange it in a fireproof dish.

Assemble

  1. Add ½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese to the white sauce and pour it over the cauliflower.

  2. Coat the top with breadcrumbs and additional cheese.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until well browned.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cauliflower + parmesan cheesetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together138 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parmesan cheese + saucetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).

  3. Cauliflower + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together463 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower
Forms the main body of the dish and provides the vegetable base.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the top brown and crisp in the oven.
White sauce
Provides moisture and a creamy texture that binds the dish together.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping through browning in the oven.

The step that matters

Bake until well browned. Baking long enough lets the cheese and breadcrumbs brown and crisp on top while the sauce heats through. Underbaking leaves the top pale and the center under-heated.

Swap the cauliflower

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parmesan cheese, sauce):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parmesan cheese, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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