Skip to main content
Main

Caulif Lower Timbale

A baked cauliflower dish shaped in a mold, served with drawn butter or Hollandaise and tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Caulif Lower Timbale

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. In a bowl, mix the cauliflower, bread crumbs, beaten eggs, salt, melted butter, pepper, and milk until well combined.

  3. Butter molds and line the bottoms with white paper.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into the molds.

  2. Place the molds in a pan of hot water, ensuring they are standing upright.

  3. Cook until the center is firm.

  4. Serve turned out from the molds with drawn butter or Hollandaise and tomato sauce.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and set into a firm, sliceable custard when cooked.
Cauliflower
Provides the bulk and body of the timbale, with moisture that softens the set.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help give the timbale a tender, structured texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat for flavor and a smoother, moister texture.
Milk
Adds moisture and loosens the mixture so it sets softly rather than dry.

The step that matters

Cook in a water bath until the center is firm. Egg proteins set gently at moderate heat. Cooking the molds in hot water keeps the heat even and prevents the edges from overcooking, curdling, or turning rubbery before the center sets.

Swap the cauliflower

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, butter, pepper, milk):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, butter, pepper, milk. 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.

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipesBread OmeletteBread Omelette60 recipesOatmeal BreadOatmeal Bread51 recipes