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Cauliflower Au Gratin

A dish of boiled cauliflower pieces coated in a Parmesan mixture, buttered and baked until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cauliflower and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 687 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Cauliflower Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the cauliflower

  1. Boil the cauliflower and cut it into walnut-sized pieces, discarding the stem and leaves.

Coat and dress

  1. In a bowl, mix the grated Parmesan cheese, flour, mustard, white pepper, and cayenne.

  2. Dip each piece of cauliflower into the mixture and place them flower side up on a flat dish.

  3. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.

  4. Melt the butter and pour it over the cauliflower.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15 minutes and serve immediately.

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 + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  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 main body of the dish, becoming tender as it cooks through.
Parmesan cheese
Melts and browns on the surface, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.
Flour
Thickens the cheese coating so it clings to the cauliflower rather than sliding off.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the coating brown in the oven.
Mustard
Adds a sharp, tangy note that balances the richness of the cheese and butter.

The step that matters

Coating the cauliflower evenly. Each piece should be dipped so the flour and cheese mixture coats it evenly. Flour gives the coating body, so uneven coverage leaves bare patches that can dry out or brown unevenly during baking.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cauliflower, parmesan cheese, flour, mustard, pepper, 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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