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Cauliflower a LA Blanc

Boiled cauliflower served with mayonnaise sauce and fried bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cauliflower and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 888 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cauliflower a LA Blanc

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and cut the cauliflower into pieces.

  2. Boil the cauliflower until three-quarters cooked.

  3. Soak the cauliflower in oil and vinegar for 1 hour.

Assemble and serve

  1. Place the cauliflower in a raised crust that is 3 inches deep.

  2. Serve with mayonnaise sauce and crumbs of fried bread.

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 + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together888 recipes

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

  2. Cauliflower + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together223 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sauce + breadtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,934 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Vinegar + breadtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,672 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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 and provides the vegetable texture once partly cooked.
Oil
Coats the cauliflower pieces, adding richness and moisture during soaking.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour of the soaked cauliflower.
Mayonnaise sauce
Adds creamy fat and a rich, tangy finish when served over the cauliflower.
Crumbs of fried bread
Adds crisp, golden texture and a toasted contrast to the soft cauliflower.

The step that matters

Boil the cauliflower until three-quarters cooked. Stopping at about three-quarters keeps the florets firm enough to hold their shape while soaking and baking, instead of turning mushy.

Swap the cauliflower

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

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sauce, bread. 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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