Skip to main content

Spinach Cream

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Spinach Cream

Why it works: Spinach and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,400 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Spinach Cream

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Remove all imperfect leaves and stems from the spinach. Wash thoroughly in several waters until clean.

  2. If spinach is not crisp, soak it in cold running water or a pan of ice water until fresh.

  3. Cook spinach in boiling salted water for 30 minutes. Drain and chop finely.

  4. Press the chopped spinach to remove excess liquid.

  5. Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour, and cook without browning.

  6. Add the chopped spinach, seasonings, and cream. Mix well.

  7. Pour the mixture into a round mold and keep warm until serving.

  8. Turn out onto a plate and cover with chopped hard-boiled eggs.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Swap the spinach

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Spinachthe original

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

You might also like

Macaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesCheese MakingCheese Making50 recipesSpinach SoupSpinach Soup50 recipesCheese FrittersCheese Fritters34 recipes