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Cauliflower Au Gratin

A baked cauliflower gratin with milk, cheese, breadcrumbs, and butter, served with a compote of oranges and apples.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. R. Allinson · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cauliflower Au Gratin

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cauliflower

  1. Gather the ingredients: fair-sized cauliflower, 1 pint milk, 1‑1/2 oz dried Allinson breadcrumbs, 3 oz cheese, 1‑1/2 oz butter, 1 heaped‑up tablespoonful Allinson wholemeal flour, a little nutmeg, pepper, and salt.

  2. Boil the cauliflower until half cooked.

  3. Cut the cauliflower into pieces and place them in a pie dish.

Make the sauce and bake

  1. Boil the milk, adding the seasoning, 1/2 oz butter, and 1/2 a saltspoonful nutmeg.

  2. Thicken the sauce with the wholemeal flour smoothed in a little cold milk or water.

  3. Stir in the cheese and pour the sauce over the cauliflower.

  4. Shake the breadcrumbs over the top, cut the remaining butter into bits, and place them over the breadcrumbs.

  5. Bake for 20 minutes to 1/2 hour, or until the cauliflower is soft.

Prepare the fruit and serve

  1. Peel the oranges and the apples. Cut them across in thin slices, coring the apples and removing the pips from the oranges.

  2. Arrange the fruit into alternate circles in a glass dish, sprinkling the ground almonds between the layers.

  3. Pour the syrup over the fruit.

  4. Serve when cold.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

779Calories
23 gProtein
11 gFat
150 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  2. Orange + appletop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

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

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Orange + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower (in the method)
Forms the bulk of the dish and turns soft and tender during baking.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce that binds the dish together.
Wholemeal flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce as its starch swells when heated.
Cheese (in the method)
Melts into the sauce, adding savoury flavour and a rich texture.
Butter (in the method)
Adds richness and helps the breadcrumb topping brown in the oven.
Breadcrumbs (in the method)
Form a crisp, golden topping over the sauce as they toast and brown.

The step that matters

Thicken the sauce with the flour smoothed in cold liquid. Flour starch must be dispersed in cold liquid before heating, otherwise it clumps into lumps instead of thickening the sauce evenly.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, orange, nutmeg, pepper):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, orange, nutmeg, pepper. 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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