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Stewed Spinach

Stewed spinach is spinach cooked with gravy and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Spinach and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,583 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Stewed Spinach

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the spinach

  1. Peel the spinach and steam it in a saucepan without water.

  2. Strain the spinach from the liquid.

  3. Chop the spinach well.

Stew

  1. In a stewpan, combine the chopped spinach, gravy, and butter.

  2. Stir the mixture frequently.

  3. Let it stew for 15 minutes.

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.

  1. Spinach + buttertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,583 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Spinach
Forms the bulk of the dish and gives its leafy, earthy flavor as it softens and releases water.
Gravy
Adds savory flavor and moisture that keeps the chopped spinach tender as it stews.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stir the mixture frequently. Chopped spinach and gravy can stick and scorch on the base of the pan as the liquid reduces. Frequent stirring spreads heat evenly and keeps the texture smooth.

“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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