Why it works: Spinach and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,400 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓
Cream of Spinach Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the spinach in its own water until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Rub the cooked spinach through a colander.
In a separate pot, combine beef stock, cream or milk, salt, and pepper.
Thicken the mixture with flour and butter rubbed together.
Stir the thickened mixture into the spinach and strain through the colander again.
Bring the soup to a boil before serving.
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.
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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Spinach + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,400 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Spinach + flourtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,564 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Fresh spinach
- Forms the body and green flavour of the soup once mashed and strained.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid so the soup becomes smooth and creamy rather than thin.
- Butter
- Rubbed with flour to form a roux-like paste that thickens the soup and adds richness.
- Cream or milk
- Adds richness and a silky texture while softening the spinach flavour.
- Beef stock
- Provides savoury depth as the main cooking liquid of the soup.
The step that matters
Thicken the mixture with flour and butter rubbed together. Flour must be fully blended with the butter and liquid, or it forms lumps that won't smooth out. Thickening works best when the liquid is hot enough to swell the starch evenly.
Swap the spinach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, cream, flour, butter, pepper):
- Potatofits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Spinachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, cream, flour, butter, 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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