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Cauliflower and Cheese Soup

A creamy soup made with cauliflower, stock, milk, butter, rice flour, Parmesan cheese, eggs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cauliflower and celery work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 488 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cauliflower and Cheese Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Boil the stock.

  2. Add the cauliflower sprigs.

  3. Season the stock with salt, white pepper, and cayenne to taste.

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter.

  2. Stir in the rice flour.

  3. Gradually add the milk, bringing the mixture to a boil.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Stir in the grated Parmesan cheese.

  6. Beat in the eggs one at a time for a minute or two without boiling again.

  7. Stir in the boiled rice, semolina, or small macaroni. Mix well.

Combine and serve

  1. Pour the soup into a tureen.

  2. Gradually add the boiling stock.

  3. Serve with additional grated cheese on the side.

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 + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together488 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Rice + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,169 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten in off the heat to enrich and thicken the soup slightly without curdling.
Rice flour
Thickens the butter and milk mixture into a smooth, body-giving base.
Milk
Forms the creamy liquid that the flour thickens into the soup's base.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavour and richness that melts into the base.
Butter
Carries the flour and adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Cauliflower
Provides the main vegetable flavour and texture of the soup.

The step that matters

Beat in the eggs off the heat. If the base boils after the eggs go in, the proteins scramble and the soup turns grainy. Removing it from heat first and adding eggs one at a time keeps it smooth and silky.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, rice, flour, parmesan cheese, cauliflower, celery. 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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