TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Gratin de Chou-FleurCauliflower Gratin with Mornay Sauce
- Total
- 57 min
- Difficulty
- ★★★☆☆
- Serves
- 6 servings
- Prep 15 min
- Cook 42 min
A French gratin of cauliflower blanched in salted water lightly browned in butter, coated in Mornay sauce with egg yolks and Gruyère, then browned in a hot oven. Serve alongside roast beef or other meat.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.
Ingredients (6 servings)
100Authenticity- Cauliflower1000 g1 large or 2 small heads; weight after removing the leaves.
- Fine salt18 g15g for the boiling water and 3g for the sauce.
- Unsalted butter70 g30g for the sauce, 20g for browning, 5g for the dish and 15g, melted, to finish.
- Plain cake flour30 gUse plain soft-wheat cake flour without added starch or leavening.
- Whole milk500 mlUse cold milk.
- Egg yolks2 yolks
- Grated Gruyère100 g70g for the sauce and 30g for the topping.
- Ground white pepper0.5 g
Method
Divide and wash the cauliflower
- 1 Remove the leaves and cut through the bases of the stems to divide the cauliflower into florets about 4cm across.
- 2 Wash in water and drain in a strainer.
- 3 Meanwhile(While dividing the cauliflower) Bring 3L water and 15g salt to a boil over high heat.
Ready when
Continue when the florets are evenly sized.
Boil for 7 minutes, leaving some firmness, and drain
- 1 Add the cauliflower to the boiling salted water and boil for 7 minutes.
- 2 Lift out carefully with a skimmer without breaking it, spread in a strainer and drain thoroughly.
- 3 Meanwhile(While boiling) Preheat the oven to 250°C.
Ready when
Continue when a skewer just enters the stems and the center still has a little firmness.
Caution
The cauliflower continues to cook in its residual heat after it leaves the water.
Make béchamel and add yolks and Gruyère off the heat
- 1 Melt 30g unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium heat, add 30g cake flour and cook for 2 minutes without coloring.
- 2 Add 500ml cold milk in 3 additions, whisking out lumps each time. When it boils, simmer over low heat for 5 minutes and season with 3g salt and 0.3g white pepper.
- 3 Remove from the heat, stir in 2 egg yolks and warm again over low heat for a few seconds.
- 4 Remove from the heat, add 70g Gruyère and stir gently with a wooden spatula until melted.
- 5 Press plastic wrap directly onto the sauce surface to prevent a skin.
Ready when
Continue when the sauce is smooth and thick enough for a spatula drawn across the bottom to leave a line briefly.
Caution
Vigorous whisking after adding cheese can make the sauce stringy and sticky.
Lightly brown the cauliflower in butter and arrange in the dish
- 1 Melt 10 g unsalted butter in a 28 cm skillet over medium heat, add half the cauliflower and cook for 3 minutes, turning occasionally. Transfer to a plate, melt the remaining 10 g browning butter in the skillet and cook the rest of the cauliflower for 3 minutes in the same way.
- 2 Butter an ovenproof dish about 20×28cm with 5g unsalted butter and arrange the florets with their flower sides up.
Ready when
Continue when the surfaces are dry and lightly browned in places.
Tips
Residual moisture makes the sauce watery during baking.
Cover with Mornay, cheese and butter; bake at 250°C
- 1 Pour the sauce over the cauliflower to cover it completely.
- 2 Scatter 30g Gruyère over the top and drizzle with 15g melted unsalted butter.
- 3 Bake on the upper rack at 250°C for 10–12 minutes.
Ready when
The gratin is ready when the top is golden in patches and the sauce bubbles at the edges.
About this dish
By the mid-18th century, France already had dishes of cauliflower baked with Parmesan. In the 19th century, preparations also used heatproof porcelain or stoneware dishes that went straight to the table.
In the late 19th century, Voiron, chef at the restaurant Durand on Paris’s Place de la Madeleine, is said to have created Mornay sauce by melting cheese into béchamel.
Some French lunch menus of the 1930s served cauliflower gratin as a separate course after fish and a dish of lamb brains.
Bring the full course home next weekend.
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