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Holding spinach?

2K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  pete 
#1 ·
I don't have much experience with spinach other than sautéing, blanching, then serving.  

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with holding a pan full of cooked spinach on a steam table or know if holding cooked spinach on a steam table will be okay for the spinach.

The spinach will be used as an "add in" to an order of thickened sauce or as an "on the side"

I understand that spinach cooks up quickly, however I wanted to see if there were even quicker ways to get these orders out, if cooking spinach before service then placing it in the steam table would even be possible.

Any advice would be fantastic.  Thank you!
 
#2 ·
Your spinach should be fine. Of course, how long it is in the steam table is another question. But if you cook it a little ahead, put it in the steam table pan and serve it, you should have no problems. Don't forget the butter.    If no one eats it, eventually it will turn darker and not be as appetizing but cooking it ahead is no big deal. 
 
#3 ·
Unless it is something like creamed spinach I do not like to hold spinach for any serious length of time.  It just gets nasty and starts to look and tasty that the frozen and/or canned stuff my parents tried to make me eat as a kid.  As you said, spinach cooks really fast so I really don't see the need to try and hold it for any major length of time.  That being said, there's no sense in sauteing up 1 order of spinach if you have a couple of orders coming up pretty quick.  At one place I worked, during the rush I would saute a large pan of spinach (6-8 orders) at one time and dump it into a covered half hotel pan.  I would use it up within 5-10 minutes though.  Beyond that it started to lose its fresh color and flavor.
 
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