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Cream of Cauliflower

A creamy cauliflower soup made with butter, broth, water, milk, cream, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Cauliflower and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 233 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cream of Cauliflower

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cauliflower

  1. Clean and soak one head of cauliflower, then boil it for 10 minutes; remove and drain.

  2. Cut the cauliflower into small pieces and put in a saucepan with one ounce of butter, cooking for 5 minutes.

Make the soup

  1. Add one quart of broth, three pints of water, two branches of parsley, one onion with two cloves, and one hay leaf.

  2. Season with one tablespoon of salt, two saltspoons of cayenne pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg.

  3. Boil slowly for one hour.

  4. Rub one ounce of butter with two ounces of flour in a hot saucepan; strain the cauliflower broth into this and stir well.

  5. Rub the vegetables through a sieve, and return to the soup, boiling for 15 minutes while stirring.

Finish and serve

  1. Put in one cup of milk and cream, cook again, mix two egg yolks with three tablespoons of cream, add to the soup with one ounce of butter, and stir until perfectly hot.

  2. Strain and serve with croutons.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

505Calories
20 gProtein
32 gFat
38 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 13 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Leafnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. See the original page.

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 + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together233 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower
Forms the body of the soup once cooked and rubbed through a sieve, giving it thickness.
Flour (in the method)
Cooked with butter to form a roux that thickens the broth.
Egg yolks
Enrich the soup and add body and smoothness when stirred in gently with cream.
Milk
Adds moisture and mild sweetness, softening the soup's flavour and texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and smoothing the texture.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks and cream. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but if the soup is too hot when they go in, they can scramble into specks. Stir them with a little cream first and heat gently only until the soup is hot.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cauliflower, butter, milk, cream, parsley, onion, egg):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cauliflower, butter, milk, cream, parsley, onion, egg. 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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