Name: Cauliflowee Vol-au-vent
Ingredients: 1 five-cent baker's loaf; 3 eggs; 6 tablespoons milk; coarse sea salt (to taste); deep frying oil; ½ cup grated cheese; soft bread crumbs; butter (for browning)

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cauliflowee Vol-au-vent

Ingredients

Directions

Remove the crust from the loaf and cut out the center to create a box-shaped case with ½ inch thick walls.
Beat the eggs and mix in the milk and salt.
Dip the bread case in the egg mixture, turning frequently to soak all parts, then drain.
Fry the soaked bread case in deep fat until golden.
Fill the fried case with creamed cauliflower and add ½ cup of grated cheese.
Sprinkle additional grated cheese on top, cover with browned soft bread crumbs, and reheat in the oven.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 recipes

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