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Cauliflower Au Oratin

A baked cauliflower dish topped with cheese and browned in the oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 Oratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the cauliflower

  1. Boil cauliflower in salted water until tender.

  2. Drain cauliflower and cut it coarsely.

Make the cheese sauce

  1. In a saucepan, mix butter and flour together.

  2. Stir in hot milk until thick and smooth.

  3. Add salt and pepper.

  4. Stir in grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour cheese sauce gently over cauliflower.

  2. Sprinkle additional cheese on top.

  3. Brown in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

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

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

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  4. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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 provides the main vegetable texture when cooked until tender.
Butter
Fat that combines with flour to form a roux, giving the sauce body and richness.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce as its starch swells when heated.
Milk
Liquid base of the sauce that, thickened with flour, becomes creamy.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the topping brown and form a golden crust in the oven.

The step that matters

Stir the hot milk into the roux until smooth. Adding hot milk to the butter and flour mixture while stirring keeps lumps from forming, because the starch disperses evenly as it thickens. Adding it all at once or cold can leave lumps.

Swap the cauliflower

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

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

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