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Turkey Hash

A hash made from leftover turkey, water, seasonings, optional stuffing or flour, thickened with cream or milk, served with dry toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Turkey Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the remains of cold turkey into shreds or small square pieces.

  2. Place turkey in a stewpan with ½ cup of water, cover, and stew gently for a few minutes.

  3. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

Make the gravy

  1. Thicken the gravy with stuffing or 2 teaspoons of flour if desired.

  2. For a richer flavor, add ½ cup of cream or milk mixed with 2 teaspoons of flour rubbed smooth with 1 ounce of butter.

  3. Add more milk or water if there isn't enough gravy.

Serve

  1. Garnish the dish with points of dry toast.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,636 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Provides the main body and protein of the hash, becoming tender when gently stewed.
Flour
Thickens the gravy as its starch swells with heat, giving the hash body.
Cream or milk
Adds richness and creamy body to the gravy, softening its flavor.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and when rubbed with flour helps it blend smoothly into the gravy.
Stuffing
Thickens the gravy through its starch and adds savory flavor.

The step that matters

Rubbing the flour into the butter. Flour mixed into cold or unevenly mixed fat clumps when liquid is added. Working it smooth with the butter first lets the starch disperse evenly, so the gravy thickens without lumps.

“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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