Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Baked Hash
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the hash
In a bowl, mix the chopped meat and stale bread with butter, salt, pepper, and parsley.
Add enough gravy or broth to moisten the mixture without making it sloppy. If unavailable, use water and butter. Mix thoroughly.
Butter an earthen dish and transfer the hash mixture into it.
Dissolve the baking powder in water or broth and quickly stir it into the hash.
Bake
Bake in the hot oven until the top is brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,588 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
- Chopped meat
- Provides the main body and savory flavor of the hash.
- Stale bread
- Absorbs moisture and gives the hash a light, crumbly structure.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the top brown in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when moistened and heated, helping the hash rise and lighten.
- Gravy or broth
- Moistens the mixture so it bakes tender rather than dry.
The step that matters
Stirring in the baking powder. Baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as it meets liquid, so it should be dissolved and stirred in quickly and then baked promptly. Waiting lets the leavening lose its lift before the hash reaches the oven.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, bread, butter, pepper):
- Parsleythe original
- Thymefits about as well
- Sagefits about as well
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, bread, 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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