Why it works: Onion and potato 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 ↓
Coen Beep Hash
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Boil the potatoes until tender.
Chop the boiled beef and mix it with the finely chopped potatoes.
Add the grated onion, butter, milk, cayenne pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.
Bake
Transfer the mixture to a buttered dish.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until heated through.
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.
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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Boiled beef
- Provides the main meat flavour and the bulk of the hash.
- Potatoes
- Supply starch and body that bind the hash and give it a soft texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavour and helps the top brown lightly.
- Milk
- Adds moisture so the mixture stays soft rather than drying out in the oven.
- Grated onion
- Adds savoury aroma and a mild sharpness through the hash.
The step that matters
Bake until heated through. The ingredients are already cooked, so the bake mainly warms them and lets the flavours meld. Overbaking dries the potatoes and milk, leaving the hash tough and crusty rather than moist.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, potato, pepper, milk, sauce):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Tomatofits about as well
- Onionthe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, potato, pepper, milk, sauce. 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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