Name: Corned Beef Hash
Ingredients: cold corned beef; potatoes; butter; sour apples

Why it works: Beef and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Corned Beef Hash

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

cold corned beef
potatoes
butter
sour apples

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Chop the cold corned beef finely.
Mash the potatoes and mix in 2 tablespoons of butter.
Chop the sour apples and combine with the potatoes and meat in equal quantities.

Bake

Place the mixture in a pan with a little butter.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the quantity made.

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.

Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Potato + appletop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together603 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Butter + appletop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,706 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,847 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold corned beef: Provides the savory meat base and most of the hash's chewy, salty flavor.
Potatoes: Supply starch and body, binding the hash and giving it a soft, fluffy interior.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and helps the surface brown in the pan and oven.
Sour apples: Add acidity that brightens the rich meat and potatoes and balances the flavor.