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Mixed Hash

A hash of diced potatoes and meat cooked with butter, stock, and browned flour, served on toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Mixed Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Heat the butter in a pan.

  2. Add the browned flour and stock, stirring until it starts to cook.

Add the potatoes and meat

  1. Add the diced potatoes and cook until they are done.

  2. Stir in the chopped meat and serve on 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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

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

  4. Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Turkey + potatotop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Browned flour
Thickens the stock into a smooth gravy as it cooks.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and carries flavor through the pan.
Stock
Provides the liquid and savory flavor that turns the flour into a sauce.
Potatoes
Add starch and body, making the hash hearty and filling.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour and stock. Stirring the browned flour and stock while they heat keeps the flour evenly dispersed, which prevents lumps and gives a smooth gravy base for the hash.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, butter, flour. 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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