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Turkey-hash

A hash made from cold roast turkey, optional stuffing and gravy, seasoned and fried with butter, topped with poached eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Turkey-hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the hash

  1. Remove the skin and bone from the cold roast turkey and chop it finely.

  2. Combine the turkey with any cold stuffing and gravy, or add enough hot water to moisten it.

  3. Season with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and any powdered herb except sage.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Add the turkey mixture to the pan and stir until very hot.

  3. Poach the eggs by breaking them into boiling salted water just before the hash is done.

  4. Serve the hot turkey-hash topped with the poached eggs immediately.

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 + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Turkey + sagetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together154 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Turkey + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,636 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Sage + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cold roast turkey
Forms the main body of the hash and provides its savory, meaty flavor.
Cold stuffing
Adds starch and moisture that help bind the chopped turkey together.
Gravy
Supplies moisture and savory flavor so the hash does not dry out in the pan.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the hash brown lightly in the pan.
Eggs
Set as soft, runny-yolked poached eggs that add richness when broken over the hash.

The step that matters

Stirring the hash until very hot. The turkey is already cooked, so the goal is heating it thoroughly without drying it out. Too little moisture or too much heat makes the meat tough and dry, so keep it moistened and stir steadily.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Sagethe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, pepper, butter, 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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