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Corned Beef Hash

A hash of boiled corned beef and potatoes seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Corned Beef Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the tender boiled corned beef fine and mix it with the chopped boiled potatoes in a bowl.

  2. Add salt to season the potatoes and pepper to your taste, mixing thoroughly.

  3. Let the mixture stand overnight.

Cook and serve

  1. Half an hour before serving, place the mixture in an iron frying pan with cold water and butter.

  2. Cook slowly on the back of the stove, stirring frequently.

  3. If it becomes too dry, add boiling water.

  4. Taste and adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper if needed.

  5. Serve very hot.

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. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  5. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Corned beef
Provides the main meaty flavour and savoury character of the hash.
Potatoes
Supply starch and body, binding the hash and giving it a soft, tender texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the hash brown in the pan.

The step that matters

Cook slowly on the back of the stove, stirring frequently. Slow heat and regular stirring let the mixture warm through and brown gently without scorching on the pan base. Adding boiling water when it dries keeps the hash moist.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Onionfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Tomatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, butter. 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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