Why it works: Turkey and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,592 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Turkey Hash
Ingredients
Directions
Chop the meat from the cold roast turkey into small pieces.
Add enough gravy to moisten the turkey; if you don't have gravy, use a little butter.
Heat the mixture over medium heat until hot, but do not let it boil.
Serve the turkey hash on slices of fried hasty pudding.
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.
-
Turkey + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,592 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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 the meaty texture.
- Gravy
- Adds moisture and savoury flavour so the chopped turkey does not dry out.
- Butter
- Adds moisture and richness when gravy is unavailable.
The step that matters
Heat over medium heat without boiling. Gentle heat warms the turkey and gravy through without toughening the meat or breaking the gravy, which can happen when the mixture boils.
“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.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Turkey Soup71 recipes
Turkey Stuffing26 recipes
Turkey Dressing24 recipes
Turkey Patties12 recipes