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Meat Hash

A dish of finely chopped cold meat mixed with potatoes, seasoned, cooked slowly with butter or drippings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Meat Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Season the cold meat with salt and pepper and chop it finely.

  2. If using cold potatoes, chop them finely. If using hot potatoes, mash them.

  3. Combine the meat and potatoes in a ratio of one third meat to two thirds potato.

Cook

  1. Place the mixture in a frying pan and add a little water to moisten it.

  2. Stir in a spoonful of butter or beef drippings.

  3. Heat the mixture slowly, stirring often, until warmed through.

  4. Cover and let it sit on a moderately hot part of the stove for 20 minutes.

  5. Fold the hash like an omelet and serve.

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. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Meat + potatotop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together786 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 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

Cold meat
Forms the savory base and main flavor of the hash.
Potatoes
Add bulk and starch that bind the mixture and brown in the pan.
Butter or beef drippings
Add fat for richer flavor and help the hash brown on the surface.
Water
Adds moisture so the mixture heats through without drying out.

The step that matters

Covering and resting on the stove. Letting the hash sit covered over moderate heat lets the bottom crisp and brown while the centre warms. Heating too fast or stirring constantly can scorch the bottom before the interior is hot.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Asparagusfits less well
  4. Mustardfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, 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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