Name: Spinach and Cheese Strata
Ingredients: 1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed, squeeze of all excess liquid, and chopped; 1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion (1 large); 3 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg; 8 cups cubed French or Italian bread in 1-inch cubes (1/2 lb); 6 ounces coarsely grated Gruyère (2 cups); 2 ounces finely grated parmesan (1 cup); 2 3/4 cups milk; 9 large eggs; 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Why it works: Spinach and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 603 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

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 + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together603 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Spinach + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,400 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, butter, pepper, nutmeg, bread, milk, egg):

Asparagusfits better
Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, butter, pepper, nutmeg, bread, milk, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Spinach and Cheese Strata