Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Hash
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix the meat, mashed potato, salt, and pepper until there are no lumps.
Cook
In a skillet, melt the butter or dripping with the hot water.
Add the hash.
Let it simmer slowly until it absorbs the water and forms a brown crust. Do not stir.
Fold over the hash and turn it out onto a hot platter.
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.
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Meat + potatotop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together786 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cooked meat
- Provides the savory body and flavor of the hash.
- Mashed potato
- Binds the mixture and gives it a soft, moist texture.
- Butter or dripping
- Fat that helps the bottom of the hash brown in the skillet.
The step that matters
Let it simmer slowly without stirring. Stirring breaks up the mixture and prevents a continuous crust from forming. Gentle, undisturbed heat lets the water evaporate and the potato bottom brown, which gives the hash its crisp crust.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, pepper, butter):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Asparagusfits less well
- Mustardfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, 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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