Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Spinach Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the spinach
Wash the spinach well.
Cook the spinach in 1 pint of water with the onion and seasoning until quite soft.
Rub the cooked spinach through a sieve.
Finish the soup
Mix the wheatmeal with the melted butter as in the previous recipe.
Stir the mixture into the spinach, add the milk, and boil all up.
Add the lemon juice last.
If the soup is too thick, add a little water.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Soup | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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.
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Onion + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,646 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Milk + oniontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,418 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Adds richness and smoothness, giving the soup a creamy body and mellow flavour.
- Onion
- Builds a savoury aroma and base flavour as it softens in the cooking water.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the green soup.
- Wheatmeal (in the method)
- Its starch thickens the soup as it cooks, giving it body.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds fat that carries flavour and gives a rich mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Add the lemon juice last. Acid curdles hot milk proteins and can make the soup grainy, so adding the lemon juice last, once the milk is in, keeps the soup smooth and bright.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, lemon, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, lemon, 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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