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Cauliflower, Baked, with Cheese

A baked cauliflower dish topped with cheese, breadcrumbs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cauliflower, Baked, with Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Boil the cauliflowers until tender, then drain well.

  2. Divide the cauliflowers into pieces for serving.

  3. Butter a round gratin dish or any fireproof dish.

  4. Arrange the cauliflower pieces in the dish to resemble one large piece.

Make the topping

  1. Mix ½ of the cheese with the cold white sauce and pour it over the cauliflower.

  2. Combine the remaining cheese with the breadcrumbs and sprinkle it on top.

  3. Dot with small pieces of butter and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until well browned, about 40 minutes.

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. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sauce + cheesetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,987 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  5. Cauliflower + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together463 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Cauliflowers
Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender when boiled and baked.
White sauce
Adds moisture and creaminess that keeps the cauliflower from drying out in the oven.
Grated cheese
Melts into the sauce and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and a golden crust.
Brown breadcrumbs
Crisps during baking to add a crunchy, browned topping.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown as it melts over the surface.

The step that matters

Drain the cauliflower well after boiling. Excess water left on the cauliflower thins the white sauce and softens the topping, so the dish can turn watery and fail to brown well.

Swap the cauliflower

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, cheese, 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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