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Cream of Spinach

A creamy spinach and lettuce soup thickened with butter, flour, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Cream of Spinach

Why it works: Spinach and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 427 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Cream of Spinach

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the vegetables

  1. Combine spinach, lettuce, parsley, onion, butter, peppercorns, and cloves with a little boiling water in a saucepan.

  2. Cover and simmer until tender.

  3. Mix 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon flour until smooth in a bowl, then stir the mixture into the vegetables.

  4. Add a little boiling water.

  5. Mash the vegetables until smooth.

  6. Press the mash through a fine sieve.

  7. Return the puree to the saucepan.

Finish and serve

  1. Beat the egg yolks with the cream, then mix in a little boiling milk.

  2. Pour the remaining boiling milk into the puree.

  3. Remove from heat.

  4. Stir in the egg and cream mixture.

  5. Serve immediately in a tureen.

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.

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.

  1. Spinach + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together427 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Spinach + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,025 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Spinach
Provides the main green flavour and body of the soup.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavour through the soup.
Flour
Thickens the puree so the soup has a smooth, body-rich texture.
Milk
Adds creaminess and moisture, softening the soup's texture.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the soup, giving a silkier, creamier texture.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stir the egg and cream mixture in off the heat. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat and curdle if they get too hot. Removing the pan from the heat before adding them, and mixing in a little hot liquid first, keeps the soup smooth and silky.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, lettuce, parsley, onion, butter, flour, milk):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, lettuce, parsley, onion, butter, flour, milk. 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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