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Sam Weller Hash

A hash of chopped ham and veal simmered in water with seasoning, optionally thickened with breadcrumbs or flour, then baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Sam Weller Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the ham and veal into large pieces.

  2. Add cold water and seasoning to the meat.

  3. If desired, thicken the mixture with bread crumbs or flour.

Simmer and bake

  1. Simmer slowly for a long time until cooked through.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a baking pan.

  3. Cover the mixture with a light crust.

  4. Bake until golden.

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.

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. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Ham + vealtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Veal + breadtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,056 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-3-hexenol (green, grassy).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Forms the main body of the hash and gives it a tender, meaty texture.
Ham
Adds savory, salty flavor that carries through the whole dish.
Bread crumbs or flour
Thickens the cooking liquid so the mixture holds together rather than running loose.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly until cooked through. Veal is lean and can turn dry or tough if cooked too hard or too fast. A gentle, low simmer lets the meat cook evenly and stay moist, while the liquid carries flavor through the chopped pieces.

“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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