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Hashed Potatoes

A fried potato dish seasoned with salt, pepper, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hashed Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Wash and peel the potatoes.

  2. Chop the potatoes finely and soak in cold water for 10 minutes.

  3. Drain the potatoes and heat the butter or bacon fat in a frying pan.

Cook and serve

  1. Add the potatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add the vinegar.

  2. Cover the pan and cook on low heat until tender.

  3. Increase the heat to brown the potatoes, then fold them over, turn out, and serve.

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

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

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

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

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Potato + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,608 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the bulk of the dish, turning starchy and tender when cooked, then browning on the surface.
Butter or bacon fat
Conducts heat in the pan and adds richness and flavor while helping the potatoes brown.
Vinegar
Adds a little acidity that brightens the flavor of the potatoes and rich fat.

The step that matters

Increase the heat to brown the potatoes. Browning needs high heat and a dry surface. Cooking covered on low heat first softens the potatoes through, and a hot pan then creates the Maillard browning that gives crisp, golden flavor. Stirring too often prevents a crust from forming.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cabbagefits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

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