Why it works: Spinach and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,564 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Spinach.
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the spinach
Pick spinach leaves from the stems and wash them thoroughly in spring water, changing the water several times.
Shake the spinach in a dry cloth.
Drain the spinach in a large sieve.
Boil salted water.
Add the spinach, pressing it down with a skimmer to ensure even cooking.
Cook for 8 to 10 minutes until tender.
Drain and cool the spinach in fresh water.
Form the spinach into balls.
Press out excess moisture with your hands.
Chop the spinach finely on a clean surface.
Make the creamed spinach
Melt butter in a saucepan.
Add the spinach.
Stir over low heat for 10 minutes until dry.
Dredge the mixture in flour.
Stir well.
Gradually add veal gravy or cream.
If using cream, add sugar for a sweeter dish.
Stew until the mixture is well absorbed.
Serve
Serve hot with fried sippets or puff pastry.
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 + flourtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,564 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Spinach + vealtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together261 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Spinach leaves
- Forms the bulk of the dish, and its moisture must be pressed out before cooking in butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, coating the chopped spinach as it cooks down.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture so it holds together rather than running wet.
- Veal gravy or boiling cream
- Supplies liquid and richness that the mixture slowly absorbs, giving a smooth, moist texture.
The step that matters
Drying the spinach before cooking in butter. Excess water left in the chopped spinach dilutes the butter and keeps the mixture from drying and thickening. Pressing out moisture and stirring over low heat lets it cook down properly.
Swap the spinach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, veal, sugar):
- Leekfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Spinachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, veal, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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