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Chouxfleur Au Gratin- -baked Cauliflower

A baked cauliflower dish topped with cream sauce, Parmesan cheese, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chouxfleur Au Gratin- -baked 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.

Assemble

  1. Spread cream sauce on the bottom of a baking dish.

  2. Season the cauliflower flowerets with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  3. Arrange the flowerets in a dome shape over the sauce.

  4. Cover with thick cream sauce and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake

  1. Dot with small pats of butter and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden.

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

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

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  5. Cauliflower + nutmegtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together126 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

Cauliflower
Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender as it bakes.
Cream sauce
Provides moisture and a creamy texture that keeps the dish from drying out.
Parmesan cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown evenly in the oven.

The step that matters

Bake until golden. Baking at 400°F browns the cheese and butter on top while the sauce heats through. Pulling the dish too early leaves the topping pale and the center cool, while overbaking can dry the sauce and toughen the cheese.

Swap the cauliflower

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sauce, pepper, nutmeg, parmesan cheese, butter. 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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