Name: Corned Beef Hash
Ingredients: 1½ pounds corned beef, boiled tender and chopped fine; 2 cups potatoes, chopped; 3 large onions, sliced; 2 tablespoons butter; Salt and pepper to taste; ½ cup water or milk; 1 small red pepper, chopped (optional)

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Corned Beef Hash

Ingredients

1½ pounds corned beef, boiled tender and chopped fine
2 cups potatoes, chopped
3 large onions, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup water or milk
1 small red pepper, chopped (optional)

Directions

Brown the sliced onions in butter until tender.
Add the chopped corned beef and potatoes to the onions.
Season with salt and pepper, then add enough water or milk to moisten.
For extra flavor, mix in the chopped red pepper.

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 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

Corned beef: Provides the main meaty body and savory, salty flavor of the hash.
Potatoes: Add starch and bulk, giving the hash a soft, tender texture as they cook.
Onions: Browning in butter builds sweetness and savory depth through caramelization.
Butter: Adds fat for browning the onions and a rich flavor.

Swap the onion

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

Capsicumfits about as well
Onionthe original
Tomatofits about as well
Carrotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, butter, pepper, milk. 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.