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Corn Beef Hash

A hash of chopped corned beef and potatoes cooked in butter and seasoned with pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Corn Beef Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Trim off all gristle and skin from the corned beef and chop it finely.

  2. Chop the potatoes.

  3. Combine the chopped beef and potatoes in a tray.

  4. Season the mixture.

  5. Add a little hot water slowly until the mixture is moist.

Cook

  1. Heat a frying pan and melt butter in it.

  2. Spread the hash in the frying pan.

  3. Lift the hash with a broad knife to check if it is browned.

  4. Sprinkle in a little pepper if browned.

  5. Fold the hash like an omelet.

  6. 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. 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 salty, savory meat base and a chewy, shredded texture.
Potatoes
Supply starch and bulk, binding the hash and crisping to a golden crust when fried.
Butter
Adds fat that conducts heat for browning and contributes rich flavor.

The step that matters

Check the browning before folding. A golden crust forms only when the hash sits undisturbed in hot fat long enough for browning reactions. Lifting or folding too early tears the crust and leaves the hash pale and soft.

Swap the potato

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

  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, butter, pepper. 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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