Name: Mixed Hash
Ingredients: 1 pint hashed turkey or chicken or beef; 1 tablespoon browned flour; ½ cup stock; 3 small potatoes, diced; 1 tablespoon butter; Toast for serving

Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Mixed Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat.
Add the browned flour and stock, stirring until it begins to cook.
Add the diced potatoes and cook until they are tender.

Finish and serve

Stir in the chopped meat and heat through.
Serve the mixture on toast.

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.

Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,592 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,355 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Turkey + potatotop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Browned flour: Thickens the stock into a smooth, lightly flavored sauce that coats the meat and potatoes.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and helps the pan flavor the mixture.
Potatoes: Add body and soft, starchy bulk that holds the hash together.
Hashed turkey or chicken or beef: Provides the main meat flavor and protein of the dish.