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Mincep Corned Beef

A hash of finely chopped corned beef and potato, seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter, fried until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mincep Corned Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove all gristle from the corned beef and chop it very fine.

  2. Add an equal amount of potato and mix together.

  3. Season with salt, pepper, and small bits of butter.

Cook

  1. Place in a frying pan with a little water and stir frequently until very hot.

  2. Let it cook until browned on the bottom.

Serve

  1. Serve on a hot dish and garnish with parsley.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

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

Corned beef
Provides the main savory meat flavour and body of the hash.
Potato
Adds starch and bulk, giving the hash a soft, moist texture that holds together.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the hash brown and taste rounder.

The step that matters

Let it cook until browned on the bottom. Browning depends on direct, undisturbed contact with the hot pan. Frequent stirring prevents the crust that gives hash its flavour, so leave it still long enough to brown before flipping or serving.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Rosemaryfits less well
  4. Garlicfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, 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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