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A Dry Curry Hash

A hash of shredded beef or fowl cooked with onion, butter, curry powder, milk, lemon juice, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

A Dry Curry Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and fry

  1. Cut the beef or fowl into shreds.

  2. Slice the onion and fry in butter until light brown.

  3. Add curry powder and meat, frying until dark brown.

Stew

  1. Transfer to a stew pan, add milk, lemon juice, and salt.

  2. Stew gently for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

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 + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef steak or fowl
Provides the main substance, and browning it builds savory flavor and texture.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it fries, adding aroma to the base of the dish.
Butter
Carries the frying, adds richness, and helps the onion and meat brown.
Curry powder
Supplies the dish's main spice aroma, which develops when it is fried.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess to the stewed sauce.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, spiced stew.

The step that matters

Stew gently for 1 hour. Gentle heat keeps the milk from curdling or scorching while the lemon juice and spices blend. Simmering slowly also lets the meat become tender and absorb the sauce.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Coconutfits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, butter, milk. 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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