Name: Cheesy Cauliflower Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 4 slices Thin Bacon, Cut Into Small Bits; 1 whole White Onion, Finely Diced; 1 head Cauliflower, Broken Into Small Florets; 1/2 teaspoon Cajun Spice, More To Taste; 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper; 2 quarts Low Sodium Chicken Broth; 1/2 stick Butter; 1/4 cup Flour; 2 cups Whole Milk; 1 cup Half-and-half; 1/4 cup Sour Cream; 3 cups Grated Monterey Jack Cheese, More To Taste; 2 Tablespoons Minced Parsley; Salt As Needed

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Cauliflower + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,113 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Onion + cauliflowertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together935 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Swap the cauliflower

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, pepper, chicken, butter, flour, milk, cream):

Potatofits better
Leekfits better
Capsicumfits better
Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, chicken, butter, flour, milk, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Cheesy Cauliflower Soup