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Puree De Chouxfleur--puree of Cauliflower

A smooth puree made from cooked cauliflower blended with béchamel sauce, cream, butter, and seasonings.

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 ↓

Puree De Chouxfleur--puree of Cauliflower

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Rub the cooked cauliflower through a fine sieve into a saucepan.

  2. Add the Bechamel sauce and cream, and allow to reduce to a good consistency.

  3. Season with salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg.

  4. Finish with a pat of butter.

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

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

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

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

  5. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked cauliflower
Forms the main body of the puree once sieved smooth.
Bechamel sauce
Adds body and a creamy texture as it reduces with the cauliflower.
Cream
Adds richness and fat, giving a smoother, silkier mouthfeel.
Butter
Adds fat and a glossy finish to the final puree.

The step that matters

Reducing the sauce to a good consistency. Simmering evaporates water and concentrates the puree, so it thickens without scorching. Too little reduction leaves it thin and watery; too much makes it stiff and pasty. Stir often over gentle heat to prevent sticking on the base of the pan.

Swap the cauliflower

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, cream, pepper, nutmeg, 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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