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Cod-fish Hash

A hash of boiled codfish, potatoes, salt pork, milk, and butter, simmered until a brown crust forms.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Cod-fish Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Fry the salt pork pieces until brown, then remove half of the pork.

  2. Mix the codfish and potatoes with the remaining pork and let it steam for 5 minutes without stirring.

  3. Add the milk and stir thoroughly.

Cook and serve

  1. Place the remaining pork around the edge of the pan and add a little butter on top.

  2. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes until a brown crust forms.

  3. Turn it onto a platter and serve.

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 + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  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

Codfish
Provides the main flaky body and savoury flavour of the hash.
Potatoes
Add starch and bulk, helping the hash hold together and form a crust.
Salt pork
Renders fat for frying and adds salty, savoury flavour.
Milk
Adds moisture so the mixture softens and binds before it browns.
Butter
Adds fat and richness that encourages browning on the crust.

The step that matters

Simmer until a brown crust forms. Low heat over 30 minutes lets moisture evaporate slowly while the starch on the bottom browns. Heat that is too high can scorch the bottom before the interior is heated through.

“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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