Name: Spinach
Ingredients: fresh spinach; coarse sea salt; butter; cream (optional)

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Spinach

Ingredients

fresh spinach
coarse sea salt
butter
cream (optional)

Directions

Wash and pick the spinach carefully.
Place the spinach in a saucepan that can hold it all.
Sprinkle with a little coarse sea salt and cover tightly.
Shake the pan well while cooking over heat.
Once cooked, beat the spinach with a little butter until well mixed.
Serve dry, pressed into a mold for presentation, and add a spoonful of cream if desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Spinach + creamtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,130 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Spinach + buttertop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,583 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).