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Codfish Hash

A fried hash of codfish, potatoes, and salt pork with milk and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Codfish Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Fry the pork

  1. Fry the salt pork pieces until brown, then remove half of them.

Make the hash

  1. Add the codfish and potatoes to the remaining pork.

  2. Let it steam for 5 minutes without stirring.

  3. Be careful not to let it burn.

  4. Stir in the milk thoroughly.

  5. Place the remaining pork around the edge of the pan.

  6. Add a little butter on top.

  7. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes until a brown crust forms.

Serve

  1. Turn the hash onto a platter.

  2. 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. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Codfish
Forms the main body of the hash and supplies its savory, flaky flavor.
Potatoes
Bind with the fish and absorb the pork fat, giving the hash body and a crisp browned crust.
Salt pork
Renders fat for frying and adds salty, savory flavor to the hash.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the mixture, keeping it from drying out as it cooks.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the surface brown during the final simmer.

The step that matters

Simmer over low heat until a brown crust forms. Low heat lets the bottom brown gradually through the Maillard reaction without scorching. Too much heat burns the pork and potatoes before a even crust develops, and stirring breaks up the crust that is forming.

“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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