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Cream of Cauliflower Soup

A creamy soup made from cauliflower, milk, stock, and butter, finished with cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scald the milk with the sliced onion and parsley.

  2. Soak the cauliflower head in strong salted water for 30 minutes.

  3. Cook the cauliflower covered in hot stock for 30 minutes.

  4. Reserve one floweret for each plate of soup and press the rest through a potato ricer.

Make the soup

  1. Melt the butter in a pot, then stir in the flour, salt, and pepper until frothy.

  2. Gradually add the puree and broth, then let simmer for 10 minutes.

  3. Strain in the milk and stir in the cream if using.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + cauliflowertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together233 recipes

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base that gives the soup its body and mild richness.
Cauliflower
Provides the main body and flavor when pressed into a smooth puree.
Butter
Carries the flour into a roux and adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Flour
Starch that thickens the butter and liquid into a smooth, body-rich soup.
Chicken or veal stock
Adds savory depth and the liquid that loosens the cauliflower puree.

The step that matters

Gradually add the puree and broth. Flour in the roux swells as it meets liquid, so adding the liquid slowly while stirring disperses the starch and prevents lumps, giving a smooth, evenly thickened soup.

Swap the cauliflower

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, onion, parsley, chicken, butter, flour, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, onion, parsley, chicken, butter, flour, pepper. 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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