Skip to main content
Main

Cauliflower with Parmesan Cheese

A baked casserole of cauliflower, white sauce, Parmesan, Swiss cheese, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Parmesan cheese and swiss cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 151 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Cauliflower with Parmesan Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the sauce

  1. Boil the cauliflower heads until tender, then drain them.

  2. In a saucepan, heat the white sauce with salt and pepper until thick.

  3. Mix the egg yolks and cheeses into the thickened sauce.

Assemble and bake

  1. Cut the cauliflower into pieces and layer them in a dish with the sauce in between.

  2. Sprinkle the top with grated bread and cheese.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15 minutes until 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. Parmesan cheese + swiss cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together151 recipes

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

  2. Cauliflower + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,113 recipes

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

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

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

  5. Bread + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together577 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower
Forms the bulk of the dish and gives it a tender, soft texture when cooked.
White sauce
Adds moisture and binds the layers together as it thickens.
Eggs
Enrich the sauce and help it set firm when heated.
Parmesan cheese
Adds sharp, savoury flavour and helps the top brown.
Swiss cheese
Melts into the sauce for a smooth, stretchy, rich texture.
Grated bread
Forms a crisp, golden crust on the top when baked.

The step that matters

Mix the egg yolks into the thickened sauce. Egg yolks can scramble if they meet very hot sauce too quickly. Whisk them in gradually, off the heat or on low, so the sauce becomes smooth and evenly set.

Swap the cauliflower

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, bread, egg, parmesan cheese, swiss 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.

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMacaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipesBread OmeletteBread Omelette60 recipes