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Corn Beef Hash

A hash of cold corned beef, potatoes, onions, and cream, cooked in butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion 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 ↓

Corn Beef Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pan

  1. Rub the inside of a frying pan with a cut onion.

  2. Heat the butter in the pan.

Make and cook the hash

  1. Add the corned beef, potatoes, salt, and pepper, mixing well.

  2. Moisten the mixture with the cream and spread it evenly.

  3. Cook slowly to brown the hash underneath.

Finish and serve

  1. Once done, fold over and turn out onto a platter.

  2. Optionally, you can brown it in the oven.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Corned beef
Provides the main meaty body and savory flavor of the hash.
Potatoes
Add starch and bulk, helping the hash hold together and brown in the pan.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the mixture as it cooks.
Butter
Adds fat for frying and helps the underside brown.

The step that matters

Cook slowly to brown the hash underneath. Low, steady heat lets the bottom form a crisp, browned crust through the Maillard reaction before the mixture dries out or burns. Rushing with high heat scorches the bottom while the interior stays wet.

“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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