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Cauliflower Au Gratin

A baked cauliflower dish topped with cheese and a creamy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cauliflower Au Gratin

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cauliflower

  1. Boil the cauliflower until tender, then remove and drain.

Make the sauce

  1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Stir in the flour and cook until smooth and well combined.

  3. Gradually add the cold water, stirring until the sauce thickens.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in the cream, salt, cayenne, and half of the grated cheese.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the cauliflower on a dish, cover with the sauce, and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

  2. Brown under a broiler until the cheese is melted and golden.

  3. Serve very 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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Cauliflower + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together569 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Cauliflower
Forms the bulk of the dish and softens when boiled, becoming tender under the sauce.
Parmesan cheese
Melts and browns under the broiler, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.
Butter
Fat that combines with the flour to form the base of the sauce and adds richness.
All-purpose flour
Cooked with butter to form a roux that thickens the sauce.
Cream
Adds richness and a smoother, silkier texture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Gradually add the cold water to the roux. Adding the liquid slowly while stirring keeps the flour dispersed, so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps.

Swap the cauliflower

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

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

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