Name: Mutton Hash
Ingredients: mutton, cut into small cubes; potatoes, cut into small cubes (equal weight to meat); butter; tomato sauce; meat gravy; fresh parsley, chopped

Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mutton Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Cut the mutton and potatoes into small cubes of equal weight.
Season the potatoes and toss them in butter.
In a saucepan, combine half the seasoned potatoes with the mutton.
Cover with a few tablespoons of tomato sauce and some reduced meat gravy.
Heat gently without boiling.
Crisp-fry the remaining potatoes and distribute them over the hash.
Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley before serving.

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.

Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,798 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,398 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Mutton + meattop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together936 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, potato, meat, butter, tomato, sauce):

Garlicfits about as well
Capersfits about as well
Thymefits about as well
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, potato, meat, butter, tomato, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.