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Spinach Tortilla

A tortilla made with eggs, butter, spinach, lemon juice, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. R. Allinson · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 4 ingredients
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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 Tortilla

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the spinach.

  2. Season well with pepper and salt.

  3. Fry the spinach mixture lightly in the butter.

Make and set the tortilla

  1. Beat the eggs.

  2. Pour the beaten eggs into the mixture.

  3. Let the tortilla set.

  4. Turn it with a plate.

  5. Set the other side.

Serve

  1. Serve hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

96Calories
7 gProtein
5 gFat
6 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By T. R. Allinson. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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

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. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  3. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

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

Egg and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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

Eggs
Beaten and set to bind the filling and give the tortilla its body.
Lemon juice
Adds a bright acidity that balances the rich eggs and spinach.

The step that matters

Let the tortilla set. Eggs firm up as their proteins coagulate with heat. If the tortilla is turned or moved before the surface has set, it will tear or slump, so wait until the top is no longer runny.

“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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