Spinach and eggs
Crack the eggs before the spinach has given up its water and a green puddle collects on the plate.
Method
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Soften the garlic in the oil and add the spinach.
Starch gelatinised The granules soaked up water, swelled and burst into a network. It has thickened, and it will firm further as it cools. no way back
If you want a crust, do not stay under 140 °C. Food cooks at this heat but never colours.
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Cook it uncovered over a medium flame for five or six minutes, until all the water has gone.
Why Spinach is 91% water, and if that water stays in the pan the eggs poach instead of frying.Starch gelatinised The granules soaked up water, swelled and burst into a network. It has thickened, and it will firm further as it cools. no way back
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Make hollows in it, crack the eggs into them and season.
Starch gelatinised The granules soaked up water, swelled and burst into a network. It has thickened, and it will firm further as it cools. no way back
The egg is setting Too hot. The protein net over-tightened and pushed the water out: curdling and sponge. no way back
Stay under 82 °C. Lower the heat or move to a bain-marie — a split custard never comes back.
If you want a crust, do not stay under 140 °C. Food cooks at this heat but never colours.
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Cover and cook for three minutes, then take it off the heat.
Starch gelatinised The granules soaked up water, swelled and burst into a network. It has thickened, and it will firm further as it cools. no way back
The egg is setting Proteins unfold and link up, binding everything together. This is where creaminess comes from. no way back
If you want a crust, do not stay under 140 °C. Food cooks at this heat but never colours.
This recipe was run through the engine step by step — what goes in when, and at what temperature and for how long. The reactions above come from that run.
peak 140 °C · 12 minutes · engine 1.0.0 · confidence low
What it tastes like
The axes that define this recipe: aroma 64, richness 51, umami 39.
This profile is computed rather than measured: the role-weighted average of its ingredients’ taste vectors, shifted by what the cooking does. The thin line is the database average on that axis.
Closest in taste
Not hand-picked: ranked by distance across the eight taste axes.
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