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Cream of Spinach

A creamy spinach soup made with spinach, lettuce, parsley, onion, butter, peppercorns, cloves, milk, eggs, and cream.

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. In a saucepan, combine spinach, lettuce, parsley, onion, butter, peppercorns, cloves, and a little boiling water.

  2. Cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Thicken and puree

  1. In a bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour until smooth.

  2. Stir the butter-flour mixture into the vegetables, adding a little boiling water.

  3. Mash the vegetables until smooth and press through a fine sieve.

  4. Return the puree to the saucepan and add 1 pint of boiling milk.

Enrich and serve

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with 4 tablespoons of cream.

  2. Pour a little boiling milk into the egg mixture, then add the rest to the puree.

  3. Remove from heat, stir in the eggs and cream, and serve immediately.

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
Gives the soup its green color and fresh, earthy flavor.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor, and with flour forms a thickening roux.
Flour
Thickens the puree into a smooth, body-rich soup when cooked with butter.
Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base and adds softness and mild sweetness.
Egg yolks
Enrich the soup and add thickness and silky texture when gently heated.
Cream
Adds richness, fat and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks and cream. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat and can scramble if the soup is too hot or boiling. Tempering them with warm milk first, and removing the pan from heat before stirring them in, keeps the soup smooth rather than grainy.

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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