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Cauliflower in Edam Shell

Cauliflower stuffed in Edam cheese, baked and served with reserved florets.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cauliflower and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,113 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cauliflower in Edam Shell

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Set aside half a dozen of the best cauliflower pieces.

  2. Season the remaining cauliflower with pepper and a little salt.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the Edam shell with the seasoned cauliflower.

  2. Place on a pan in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.

  3. Serve garnished with reserved florets and wrapped in a folded napkin.

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

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

  2. Pepper + cheesetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

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

  3. Cauliflower + cheesetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together171 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower
Forms the filling and supplies the main vegetable texture once cooked through.
Edam cheese
Serves as the edible shell that melts and browns around the cauliflower.

Swap the cauliflower

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cheese):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cheese. 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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