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Corned Beef Hash

A hash of boiled corned beef and potatoes seasoned with salt, pepper, water, butter, eggs, and cream, baked until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Corned Beef Hash

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Mix chopped corned beef and potatoes thoroughly.

  2. Season with salt and pepper, then let it stand overnight.

Cook and bake

  1. In an iron frying pan, combine the mixture with cold water and butter.

  2. Heat on the stove for half an hour.

  3. Add beaten eggs and cream or milk, then mix well.

  4. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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, meaty flavor and the main body of the hash.
Potatoes
Add bulk and starch that helps the hash hold together and brown on the surface.
Eggs
Set when heated, binding the mixture together as it bakes.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the baked mixture tender.
Butter
Adds fat for flavor and helps the surface brown in the pan.

The step that matters

Heating on the stove before baking. Cooking the mixture in the pan with water and butter first helps the potatoes and meat heat through and begin to brown, so the baked top sets and browns evenly.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Onionfits less well
  4. Chivefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, butter, egg, cream. 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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