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Imitation Cauliflower

A baked cabbage dish flavored with eggs, butter, sweet cream, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and cabbage are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Imitation Cauliflower

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Remove the outer green leaves from the cabbage and cut it into quarters.

  3. Soak the cabbage in cold water for 1 hour.

  4. Boil the cabbage in hot water for 15 minutes.

  5. Drain the cabbage and refill the pot with boiling water.

  6. Add salt and boil until tender, about 45 minutes.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix with butter, sweet cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  2. Combine the egg mixture with the cooked cabbage and mix thoroughly.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a buttered dish.

  2. Bake until hot.

  3. Serve immediately.

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. Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Nutmeg + cabbagetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together187 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm, sliceable texture when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and keeping the mixture moist.
Sweet cream
Adds moisture and richness, leaving the mixture softer and creamier.
White cabbage
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender after boiling.

The step that matters

Add salt and boil until tender, about 45 minutes.. Cabbage cooked too briefly stays tough and watery, while overcooking turns it mushy and releases more liquid into the filling. Checking for tenderness keeps the texture right before it is combined with the egg mixture.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, cream, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, cream, pepper, nutmeg. 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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