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Scalloped Cauliflower

A baked cauliflower dish topped with a buttered breadcrumb and egg mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Scalloped Cauliflower

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the cauliflower

  1. Boil the cauliflower tied in a net in hot water until tender.

  2. Clip the cauliflower into neat clusters and place them stems down in a buttered baking dish.

Make the topping

  1. In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs with melted butter and milk to form a soft paste.

  2. Season the mixture with salt and pepper, then whisk in the egg.

  3. Butter, salt, and pepper the cauliflower.

  4. Pour the breadcrumb mixture over the cauliflower.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover the dish.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 10 minutes until very hot.

  3. Remove the cover.

  4. Brown lightly and quickly.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender when boiled and then baked.
Bread crumbs
Form the soft paste that bakes into a light, golden crust over the cauliflower.
Egg
Binds the breadcrumb mixture so it sets rather than staying loose.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the topping brown lightly in the oven.
Milk
Moistens the breadcrumbs into a spreadable paste.

The step that matters

Remove the cover and brown lightly and quickly. Once the dish is hot, extended time uncovered can dry the topping and overcook the cauliflower. A short, watched browning gives color while the custard-like topping stays moist.

Swap the cauliflower

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, milk, pepper, egg. 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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