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Delmonico's Corned Beef Hash

A hash of cold corned beef, potatoes, and onion sautéed in butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Delmonico's Corned Beef Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dice the cold corned beef and potatoes.

  2. Chop the onion finely.

Cook the hash

  1. In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the onion and sauté until translucent.

  3. Stir in the beef and potatoes, season with salt and pepper.

  4. Cook until heated through and slightly crispy, about 10-15 minutes.

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 + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide starch that softens inside and crisps on the outside of the hash.
Cold corned beef
Supplies the main meat flavour and chewy, savoury texture.
Butter
Conducts heat in the pan and adds richness and browning.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens in the fat.

The step that matters

Cook until heated through and slightly crispy. Moisture from the potatoes and meat must cook off and the surface must contact the hot pan long enough to brown. Stirring too often or crowding the skillet steams the hash instead of crisping it.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Onionthe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Chivefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, 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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