Name: Spinach, to Boil
Ingredients: 2 quarts of spinach; 2 heaped tablespoons of coarse sea salt; 1 ounce of butter; pepper to taste

Why it works: Spinach and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,400 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Spinach, to Boil

Ingredients

2 quarts of spinach
2 heaped tablespoons of coarse sea salt
1 ounce of butter
pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare

Pick the spinach carefully, ensuring no stalks or weeds are left.

Boil and drain

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the salt.
Add the spinach to the boiling water and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
Drain the spinach and return it to the pot.

Finish

Add the butter and pepper, stirring until the butter is melted and well combined.

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.

Spinach + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,400 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Spinach + buttertop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,583 recipes

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