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Sam Weller Hash

A hash of chopped ham and veal simmered in cold water with seasoning, optionally thickened with breadcrumbs or flour, then baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Sam Weller Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the ham and veal into large pieces.

  2. Add cold water and seasoning to the meat.

Cook

  1. If desired, thicken the mixture with a little bread crumbs or flour.

  2. Simmer the mixture slowly for a long time.

  3. Once sufficiently simmered, transfer to a baking pan.

Bake

  1. Cover with a light crust and bake until golden.

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. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  2. Ham + vealtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Veal + breadtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,056 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-3-hexenol (green, grassy).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham
Provides savory, meaty flavor that defines the hash.
Veal
Supplies the bulk of the meat and tender texture after slow simmering.
Bread crumbs or flour
Optional thickener that helps the simmered mixture hold together.

The step that matters

Simmer the mixture slowly for a long time. Slow, extended simmering lets the meat become tender and release gelatin, which helps the mixture set and hold together once cooled and baked.

“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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