Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Hashes and Toasts
Ingredients
Directions
Select good quality lean meat and fat, discarding any gristly or tough pieces.
Slice the meat thinly across the grain and chop finely.
Combine the meat and fat, ensuring there are no large chunks.
Use a clean stew-pan and chopping bowl.
If using meat juice, ensure it is sweet and free of sediment.
If using cold potatoes, ensure they are fresh and clean.
If using raw potatoes, slice and cook them in a little water for 5-7 minutes before adding to the meat.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Meat + potatotop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together786 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Potato + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together434 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the potato
The recipe marks potato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, butter, bread):
- Potatothe original
- Shallotfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, butter, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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