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Baked Hash

A baked dish of finely chopped cold beef or veal and potatoes mixed with egg, milk, and seasonings, topped with bacon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Baked Hash

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 the mixture

  1. Chop the cold cooked beef or veal and cold potatoes very fine.

  2. Add salt, pepper, butter, and bread crumbs to taste.

  3. Season with minced onion and parsley.

  4. Beat the egg with the milk and add to the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top.

  2. Lay the strip of breakfast bacon on it.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until brown.

  4. Fold like an omelet.

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.

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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  3. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  5. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg
Binds the chopped meat and potato together so the hash holds its shape.
Milk
Adds moisture that keeps the baked mixture from drying out.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add body, and help the top brown in the oven.
Cold potatoes
Provide the bulk and starch that give the hash its soft, hearty texture.
Cold cooked beef or veal
Supplies the main meaty flavour and substance of the dish.

The step that matters

Bake at 400°F (200°C) until brown. The egg and milk set as they heat, so the mixture firms up; underbaking leaves it loose and wet, while overbaking dries it out. Browning depends on surface heat and the bread crumbs.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, pepper, butter, bread, parsley, egg. 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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