Name: Hash
Ingredients: 6 medium-sized potatoes; 2 onions; water; coarse sea salt; cold beef, cut in small pieces; gravy; biscuits, cut in two and buttered

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Peel and slice the potatoes and onions.
Place them in a skillet and cover with water.
Add coarse sea salt and cook until tender.

Finish and serve

Add the cold beef and a little gravy.
When done, pour the mixture over the buttered biscuits.

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 + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + beeftop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Onion + biscuittop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together428 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Potato + biscuittop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together137 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes: Form the bulk of the hash and soften as they cook, giving body to the dish.
Onions: Add sweetness and aroma as they cook down in the water.
Cold beef: Supplies the meat and savory flavor that the hash is built around.
Gravy: Adds moisture and savory richness that binds the hash together.
Biscuits: Serve as the base under the hash, soaking up the gravy and mixture.