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Spinach, Dandelion Leaves Dressed Like

A dish of boiled young dandelion leaves cooked with butter, pepper, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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, Dandelion Leaves Dressed Like

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the leaves

  1. Pick the young dandelion leaves from the stems and wash them well.

  2. Place the leaves in a large saucepan and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

  3. If using older leaves, add a little boiling water.

  4. Boil for 10 minutes, then strain using a sieve or colander.

  5. Press the leaves in a napkin to remove excess water.

Cream and serve

  1. In a stewpan, combine the leaves with a little butter, pepper, and salt.

  2. Heat on the stove for about 10 minutes before serving.

  3. Add ½ cup of cream, pile the mixture on a dish, and serve.

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.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Dandelion + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together77 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Dandelion + creamtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Young dandelion leaves
Provide the main body of the dish, cooked until tender and then pressed dry.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavour and gives a smooth texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, turning the leaves into a creamy mixture.

The step that matters

Pressing the leaves dry. Leftover water from boiling dilutes the cream and makes the mixture watery. Pressing the leaves in a napkin removes this excess moisture so the final dish holds together and tastes concentrated.

“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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