Why it works: Sage and summer savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 237 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Sayort Wintek Hash
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop the cold meat, cold potatoes, onion, and herbs together.
Cook and serve
In a saucepan, combine the chopped mixture with gravy or hot water and butter.
Simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Serve over thin slices of toast.
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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Sage + summer savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together237 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + summer savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together241 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Parsley + sagetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,445 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold potatoes
- Provide the starchy body that softens and holds the hash together as it cooks.
- Cold meat
- Supplies the savory, protein-rich bulk of the hash.
- Onion
- Adds aroma and a mild sweetness as it cooks.
- Gravy or hot water
- Adds moisture that softens the mixture and carries flavor through it.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavor and helps the mixture brown lightly.
The step that matters
Simmer gently for 15 minutes. A gentle simmer lets the liquid soak into the potatoes and softens their starch without breaking the pieces apart. A hard boil can scorch the bottom of the pan and leave the mixture dry or mushy.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, potato, pepper, parsley, sage, summer savory, butter):
- Carrotfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Turnipfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, potato, pepper, parsley, sage, summer savory, butter. 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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