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Spinach

Boiled spinach seasoned with salt, served in one‑inch squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Spinach

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the spinach

  1. Pick the spinach leaves individually.

  2. Wash the leaves in three changes of water.

Boil

  1. Add a little salt to boiling water.

  2. Boil the spinach quickly for seven to eight minutes, keeping it submerged.

Drain and serve

  1. Strain the spinach using a sieve and press it dry between two plates.

  2. Spread the spinach on a dish and score it into one‑inch squares.

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

What each ingredient does

Spinach
Forms the dish's bulk; cooking softens its fibres so it becomes tender and easy to press.

The step that matters

Keeping the spinach submerged while it boils. Leaves that poke above the water cook unevenly and can turn dull or discoloured. Keeping them under the water and boiling quickly helps them cook evenly and keeps their bright green colour.

“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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