Name: Hashed Venison
Ingredients: thin slices of venison (fat and lean); brown sauce (made from venison bones); gravy from the venison; ⅓ cup port wine; 1 inch thick pieces of mutton fat; hot stock; currant jelly

Why it works: Port wine and currant work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 356 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Hashed Venison

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut and trim thin slices of venison, both fat and lean.
Prepare a brown sauce using the bones from the venison.

Make the hash

Add the venison slices to the brown sauce along with the gravy from the venison and the port wine.
Cut the mutton fat into 1-inch thick pieces and place them in a stewpan with hot stock.
Once the hash is ready, serve it in a hot water dish using a slotted spoon to remove the fat.
Sprinkle the fat over the hash and serve with currant jelly.

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.

Port wine + curranttop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together356 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Venison + port winetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together239 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Venison + muttontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together279 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Venison + curranttop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together443 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Port wine + muttontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together344 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Venison: Provides the meat that gives the hash its main flavour and texture.
Port wine: Adds sweetness and acidity to the sauce, deepening its flavour.
Mutton fat: Adds richness and flavour to the hash as it is kept in the stock.
Currant jelly: Adds sweetness and acidity that balances the rich meat and sauce.