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Corned Beef Hash

A hash of cold corned beef and boiled potatoes, seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter, pan‑fried until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Corned Beef Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the hash

  1. Chop equal quantities of cold corned beef and boiled potatoes.

  2. Adjust the ratio to preference, adding more potato if desired.

  3. Mix the meat and potatoes together, adding just enough water or broth to moisten.

  4. Season with salt, pepper, and butter to taste.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan.

  2. Add the hash to the pan and stir until nearly hot.

  3. Form the hash into a cake on one side of the pan and let it brown on the bottom.

  4. Occasionally loosen the hash from the pan to prevent burning.

  5. Once browned, turn the hash out onto a dish with the brown side up.

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. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold corned beef
Provides the main meaty flavor and chewy texture of the hash.
Boiled potatoes
Adds starch and body, binding the hash and helping it crisp when browned.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the bottom of the hash brown in the pan.

The step that matters

Forming the cake and letting it brown undisturbed. Browning depends on direct, undisturbed contact with the hot pan. Frequent stirring keeps the surface from crisping, while loosening only as needed prevents the bottom from scorching.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, butter):

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Onionfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Tomatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, 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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