Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. 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
In a pan, combine the finely chopped meat with some water.
Add coarse sea salt, black pepper, butter, and bread crumbs to taste.
Season with minced onion, parsley, and thyme.
Stir in the milk or cream and the beaten egg.
Bake
Grate additional bread crumbs over the top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until brown.
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.
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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,171 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Meat
- Forms the bulk of the hash and provides the savory base.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture so it holds together when baked.
- Milk or cream
- Adds moisture and softness to the mixture.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and add body, and the topping helps the surface brown.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, pepper, butter, bread, parsley, thyme, milk):
- Potatofits better
- Shallotfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, pepper, butter, bread, parsley, thyme, 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.
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