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Chicken Hash

A savory dish of chicken, potatoes, eggs, and broth simmered in butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chicken Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Boil the chicken thoroughly and remove it when done.

  2. Return the pot to the fire and make a strong broth.

  3. Strip the meat from the chicken in large pieces and cut into small squares.

Make the hash

  1. In a pan, melt the butter and add the finely chopped onion; cook thoroughly.

  2. Add the chicken and boiled potatoes to the pan.

  3. Stir in the chopped hard boiled eggs, salt, pepper, and pimento pepper.

  4. Pour in an equal quantity of the prepared broth and cream.

  5. Cook slowly, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches the proper consistency for serving as hash.

  6. Just before serving, stir in the yolks of the raw eggs for a rich color.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,756 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main body of the hash as tender meat and flavorful cooking liquid.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and carries the onion flavor into the pan.
Potatoes
Add starchy body that thickens the hash and gives it a soft, hearty texture.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the hash a smoother, creamier texture.
Raw egg yolks
Add richness and color, and thicken the mixture when gently heated.

The step that matters

Adding the raw egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can scramble if the mixture is too hot or boils after they go in. Stirring them in just before serving, off strong heat, keeps the hash smooth and creamy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, potato, egg, pepper, cream):

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, potato, egg, pepper, cream. 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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