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Cauliflower Au Gratin

A baked cauliflower dish topped with cheese and a creamy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,041 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Cauliflower Au Gratin

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Boil or steam the cauliflower until almost done; test with a skewer.

  3. Drain the cauliflower thoroughly and place it in a well-buttered baking dish.

Make the cheese sauce

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the flour to make a roux.

  2. Gradually add the stock or water, stirring until thickened.

  3. Stir in the grated cheese, salt, and pepper until melted.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower, dust with additional grated cheese, and bake for 10 minutes.

  2. Serve hot.

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. Parmesan cheese + cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,041 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 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 + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together569 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower
Forms the bulk of the dish and carries the sauce as its main vegetable base.
Parmesan cheese
Melts into the sauce for savoury flavour and a rich, stretchy texture, and browns on top.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and, with the flour, forms the roux that thickens it.
Flour
Thickens the stock and butter into a smooth sauce that clings to the cauliflower.
Stock or water
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which the roux thickens as it is added.

The step that matters

Make the roux and add the stock gradually. Cooking the flour in melted butter before adding liquid coats the starch grains so they disperse evenly. Adding the liquid slowly while stirring prevents lumps and gives a smooth, thickened sauce.

Swap the cauliflower

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against parmesan cheese, butter, flour, 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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