Spinach
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick and wash the spinach in six waters.
Cook
Place the spinach in a saucepan without adding water, sprinkle with a little salt, and cover tightly.
Shake the pan often over a clear fire.
When the greens shrink and the liquid boils up, they are done.
Drain and serve
Drain in a sieve and squeeze out excess liquid.
Serve on a plate without butter, but place butter in a cup.
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
- Is the main vegetable; its own moisture steams it as it cooks down.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the greens and helps draw out moisture as they wilt.
The step that matters
Covering the pan and shaking it often. Spinach cooks mainly by steaming in its own water. A tight lid keeps the steam in, and shaking moves the leaves so they cook evenly without scorching on the bottom of the pan.
“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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