Why it works: Spinach and bread work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the spinach
Place spinach in a large, well-tinned stewpan or saucepan with the water clinging to it, then add ½ teaspoon of coarse sea salt.
Press down with a wooden spoon and turn often for about 15 minutes until tender.
Finish and serve
Drain excess moisture and chop the spinach quickly on a hot plate.
Serve immediately with fried bread sippets.
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.
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Spinach + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Spinach
- Wilts and collapses as it cooks, becoming tender and releasing water that must be drained.
- Bread for frying
- Adds a crisp, browned texture that contrasts with the soft spinach.
The step that matters
Drain excess moisture. Spinach releases a lot of water as it cooks. Leftover liquid dilutes flavour and makes the dish watery, so draining it well keeps the spinach concentrated and textured.
“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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