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Soup

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

A creamy soup made from cauliflower, onion, butter, milk, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Cream of Cauliflower Soup

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 ↓

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the cauliflower into florets.

  2. Boil the florets in water until tender.

  3. Sauté the chopped onion in butter until soft.

Make the soup

  1. Add the cooked cauliflower and water to the onion.

  2. Blend until smooth.

  3. Stir in the milk.

  4. Season with salt and pepper.

  5. Heat gently before serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

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

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

  3. Cauliflower + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together935 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 and, once blended, gives it a thick, creamy texture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and carries flavour from the sautéed onion.
Onion
Provides savoury sweetness and aroma as it softens in butter.
Milk
Adds moisture and mellows the soup into a smoother, creamier finish.

The step that matters

Blend until smooth. Cauliflower cells must be fully broken down while hot and soft; any unblended pieces leave a grainy texture, so the florets should be fully tender before blending.

Swap the cauliflower

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, butter, milk, 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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