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Beef and Potato Sandwiches

A sandwich of cold corned beef and mashed potatoes, breaded and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Beef and Potato Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Lightly fry the slices of cold corned beef.

  2. Spread a heavy layer of mashed potatoes on each side of the beef and press down with a knife.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip the entire sandwich in beaten egg and then coat with bread crumbs.

  2. Fry in drippings until golden brown and serve hot.

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. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Potato + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together434 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,978 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Corned beef
Provides the savory, salty meat filling that carries the sandwich.
Mashed potatoes
Forms a soft, moist layer that cushions the meat inside the sandwich.
Egg
Binds the bread crumbs to the outside so they stick during frying.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried.
Drippings
Fry the coated sandwich, adding browning and rich flavor to the crust.

The step that matters

Coating and frying the sandwich. If the sandwich is not fully coated in egg and crumbs, the filling can leak out. Fry over steady heat so the crust browns before the inside overheats; the crumb coating needs enough time in the fat to turn golden.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, egg, bread):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, egg, bread. 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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