Name: Hash of Corned Beef and Potatoes
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter; 1 tablespoon chopped celery; ¾ pound cold boiled brisket or plate corned beef; ¾ pound freshly boiled potatoes; ⅔ cup bouillon or beef stock; Salt and pepper to taste; Optional: chopped chives, onions, or shallots

Why it works: Potato and chive work together. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 611 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Hash of Corned Beef and Potatoes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon chopped celery
¾ pound cold boiled brisket or plate corned beef
¾ pound freshly boiled potatoes
⅔ cup bouillon or beef stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: chopped chives, onions, or shallots

Directions

Prepare

Melt the butter in a chafing dish.
Add the chopped celery and cook briefly.
Chop the corned beef and potatoes finely.

Cook and serve

Moisten the mixture with bouillon or beef stock and mix thoroughly.
Cook over an open fire for 15 minutes, stirring to prevent burning.
Season with salt and pepper 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.

Potato + chivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together611 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + chivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together359 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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 meaty body and savory flavor of the hash.
Potatoes: Add starch and bulk, helping the hash hold together and turn tender.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and helps the mixture brown in the pan.
Bouillon or beef stock: Moistens the mixture so it cooks evenly and does not dry out.

The step that matters

Cook over an open fire while stirring. Stirring keeps the chopped meat and potatoes from sticking and scorching on the hot surface, while the liquid cooks off and the mixture browns evenly.

Swap the chive

The recipe marks chive as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, celery, beef, potato, pepper):

Carrotfits better
Tomatofits about as well
Onionfits about as well
Chivethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, celery, beef, potato, pepper. 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.

Potato Croquettes255 recipes

Roast Beef211 recipes

Beef Loaf175 recipes

Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes

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Hash of Corned Beef and Potatoes