Name: To Make a Good Hash
Ingredients: bones, skin, and gristle from a joint; water (enough to cover bones by 1-2 inches); 1 onion, chopped (unpeeled); peppercorns; vegetables (such as 1-2 sticks of celery, rough ends of celery, or a pinch of celery seed, sliced carrot, or turnip)

Why it works: Onion and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

To Make a Good Hash

Ingredients

bones, skin, and gristle from a joint
water (enough to cover bones by 1-2 inches)
1 onion, chopped (unpeeled)
peppercorns
vegetables (such as 1-2 sticks of celery, rough ends of celery, or a pinch of celery seed, sliced carrot, or turnip)

Directions

Boil the bones, skin, and gristle in water to cover by 1-2 inches.
Add the chopped onion, peppercorns, and any available vegetables.
Simmer until the mixture is flavorful and well combined.

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.

Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Bones, skin, and gristle: Release collagen that breaks down into gelatin, giving the broth body and a silky mouthfeel.
Onion: Adds savory sweetness and aroma to the broth as it simmers.

The step that matters

Simmer until flavorful. Keep the liquid at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil. A vigorous boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and makes the broth cloudy, while slow heat draws out flavor and gelatin more cleanly.

“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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To Make a Good Hash