Why it works: Spinach and nutmeg work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 603 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Make the custard
Beat the egg yolks and whites separately.
Add cream, spinach juice, and tansey juice to the eggs.
Mix in crushed Naples biscuit, sugar, white wine, and nutmeg.
Heat the mixture in a saucepan just to thicken.
Bake and serve
Pour into a dish lined with pastry and bake until set.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Spinach + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together603 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Cream + sugartop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,437 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together7,917 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Spinach + biscuittop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together58 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Biscuit + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together368 recipes
Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving it body and structure.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, giving the custard a smooth, soft texture.
- Spinach juice
- Provides the green colour and a vegetal flavour to the custard.
- Naples biscuit
- Crushed biscuit soaks up liquid and gives the custard a light, absorbent body.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and a bright note that balances the richness of the cream.
The step that matters
Heat the mixture in a saucepan just to thicken.. Egg proteins set as they heat, so the custard thickens gradually. Overheating can curdle it into a grainy texture, so heat gently and stop once it thickens.
Flavor stand-ins for the spinach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, biscuit, sugar, white wine, nutmeg):
- Sweet potatoabout as good a flavor fit
- Potatoabout as good a flavor fit
- Asparagusabout as good a flavor fit
- Spinachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, biscuit, sugar, white wine, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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