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Hash

A dish of chopped cooked meat and potatoes simmered with butter and seasonings, served on buttered toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper 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 ↓

Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the cooked meat and twice as much cold ranch potatoes into separate bowls.

Cook

  1. In an iron saucepan, combine boiling water and butter; bring to a boil.

  2. Add the meat and potatoes, seasoning with salt and pepper.

  3. If desired, add other vegetables.

  4. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until well combined and not watery.

Serve

  1. Serve the hash on well-trimmed and buttered 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. Potato + peppertop 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

Cooked meat
Provides the main savory body and bulk of the hash.
Ranch potatoes
Add starch and bulk, helping the hash hold together as it cooks.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavor through the pan.

The step that matters

Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until well combined and not watery. Excess moisture from the potatoes and meat can make the hash soggy instead of well combined. Cooking with the lid on and stirring lets the mixture heat evenly, while enough cooking lets surplus water evaporate so the hash holds together.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Onionfits about as well
  4. Tomatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, ranch, butter, pepper. 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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