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Cauliflower Soup

A creamy cauliflower soup made with egg yolks, cream, and chicken broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Cauliflower Soup

Why it works: Cauliflower and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,113 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Boil the chicken broth and cauliflower together for 20 minutes.

  2. Remove the cauliflower, cut off the best parts, and pass the remainder through a sieve.

  3. Mix the egg yolks and cream, then add to the stock with seasoning.

  4. Stir over low heat until the soup begins to thicken.

Serve

  1. Place the small pieces of cauliflower in a serving bowl and pour the soup over them.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Cauliflower + chickentop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together112 recipes

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

  4. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Cream + chickentop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,241 recipes

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

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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
Provides the main body and flavour of the soup once passed through a sieve.
Egg yolks
Thicken the soup as they gently set over low heat.
Cream
Adds richness and smoothness, softening the soup's texture.
Chicken broth
Forms the cooking liquid that carries the flavour of the soup.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat until the soup begins to thicken. Egg yolks set at gentle temperatures; if the soup gets too hot, the yolks can scramble and turn grainy instead of smooth.

Swap the cauliflower

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, chicken, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, chicken, 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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