Skip to main content
Main

Cauliflower Pie

A savory pie of cauliflower and potatoes baked in a wheatmeal batter with milk, butter, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. R. Allinson · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Celery and cauliflower work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 488 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cauliflower Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Parboil the cauliflower and potatoes.

  2. Cut the cauliflower into pieces and slice the potatoes.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the cauliflower and potatoes in a pie dish with the butter and seasoning.

  2. Make a batter by whisking together the wheatmeal, milk, and eggs.

  3. Pour the batter over the vegetables and mix well.

  4. Bake for 1½ hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

755Calories
31 gProtein
16 gFat
121 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Celery1 stalk (40g)6

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

By T. R. Allinson. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Celery + cauliflowertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together488 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,331 recipes

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

  3. Nutmeg + cauliflowertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together126 recipes

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

  4. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and set into a firm custard as it bakes.
Milk
Moistens the batter and helps it set into a tender custard.
Cauliflower
Main vegetable, softened by parboiling so it cooks through in the pie.

The step that matters

Parboil the cauliflower and potatoes. Parboiling partly cooks the vegetables before baking, so they become tender in the pie without the batter overcooking or drying out.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, nutmeg, cauliflower, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, nutmeg, cauliflower, 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.

You might also like

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCauliflower SoupCauliflower Soup28 recipesCelery StewCelery Stew25 recipesCream of Cauliflower SoupCream of Cauliflower Soup22 recipes