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Hash Cakes

A fried patty of finely chopped roast beef mixed with mashed potato, seasoned, bound with egg, coated in cracker dust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hash Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Mix the chopped beef with the mashed potato.

  2. Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and mustard.

  3. Knead lightly and incorporate the beaten egg to bind the mixture.

  4. Set aside to cool and stiffen.

Coat and fry

  1. Roll the mixture in beaten egg and cracker dust.

  2. Chill for an hour.

  3. Fry in boiling fat until golden brown.

  4. Serve dry.

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. Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

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

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

Underdone roast beef
Provides the main meaty flavour and body of the cakes.
Mashed potato
Adds bulk and moisture, giving the cakes a soft, tender interior.
Beaten egg
Binds the mixture together so the cakes hold their shape when fried.
Cracker dust
Forms a crisp coating that browns during frying.

The step that matters

Fry in boiling fat until golden brown. The fat must be hot enough to crisp the coating quickly. If it is too cool, the cakes absorb grease and turn soggy and heavy before the crust sets.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, pepper, 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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