Name: Meat Hash
Ingredients: Cold meat; ½ cup cracker crumbs; 1-3 as much mashed potatoes; 1 small onion (grated); ½ cup butter; ½ cup tomatoes; Pepper to taste; Salt to taste

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 ↓

Meat Hash

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

Chop the cold meat using a meat chopper.
In a bowl, combine the chopped meat, mashed potatoes, tomatoes, grated onion, butter, pepper, and salt.

Assemble and bake

Line a baking pan with cracker crumbs.
Add the meat mixture to the pan and cover with more cracker crumbs.
Dot the top with lumps of butter.
Bake for 15 minutes at 400°F (200°C).

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,798 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

Cold meat: Forms the savoury base of the hash, providing the main body and flavour.
Mashed potatoes: Adds bulk and a soft, moist texture that binds the hash together.
Cracker crumbs: Form a crisp, golden layer above and below the mixture as they toast in the oven.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture, and browns on the surface while baking.
Tomatoes: Contribute moisture and a mild acidity that balances the rich meat and butter.

Swap the tomato

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

Chivefits better
Capsicumfits about as well
Carrotfits about as well
Tomatothe original

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