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Lamb Hash

A hash of roast lamb, potatoes, and onions cooked in butter and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Lamb Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove all gristle from the roast lamb, leaving some fat, and chop it finely.

  2. In a bowl, combine the chopped lamb, chopped potatoes, and chopped onion. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook

  1. Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat.

  2. Add the hash mixture to the skillet and cook until heated through and slightly browned.

  3. Stir in the rich gravy and cover the skillet. Steam for three minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve immediately.

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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  3. Lamb + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together520 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Roast lamb
Provides the main meat flavor and, with its leftover fat, adds richness and moisture to the hash.
Potatoes
Bind with the lamb and brown on the skillet, giving the hash its body and texture.
Spanish onion
Adds savory sweetness and aroma that deepens as it cooks in the fat.
Butter
Fat for the skillet that helps the hash brown and adds rich flavor.
Rich gravy
Adds moisture and savory depth, which the covered steaming helps distribute through the hash.

The step that matters

Cook until heated through and slightly browned. Browning develops flavor through the Maillard reaction, but the mixture must be left undisturbed long enough to form a crust. Covering with gravy and steaming afterward keeps the hash moist.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, potato, pepper, butter):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, potato, pepper, butter. 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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