Minced Spinach
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the spinach
Wash spinach carefully, then put into salted boiling water with soda of pea size.
When tender, drain in a colander and chop finely.
Make the sauce
For each quart of chopped spinach, put two tablespoonfuls of butter and one tablespoon of flour in a frying pan.
Cook until smooth, before it browns.
Add the spinach.
Stir in a cup of milk.
When thoroughly heated, remove from heat.
Serve
Arrange spinach in a mound on a hot dish, topping with slices of cold boiled egg.
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. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Spinach (in the method)
- Forms the bulk of the dish and provides its main texture and flavour.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds fat and richness and helps form the smooth base of the sauce.
- Flour (in the method)
- Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
- Milk
- Loosens the flour-and-butter base into a creamy, moist sauce.
- Egg (in the method)
- Adds protein-based richness and contrast in colour and texture as a topping.
The step that matters
Cook the butter and flour until smooth, before it browns. Cooking flour in fat gelatinises its starch and removes raw floury taste; browning changes the flavour and colour, so stop once smooth and add the liquid.
“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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