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Stewing, Hashing, & C

A stew and hash of leeks, brains, meat, and seasonings, finished with port wine and lemon garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Stewing, Hashing, & C

Ingredients

Directions

Make the hash

  1. In a stew-pan, fry the chopped leeks and lemon peel until nicely browned.

  2. Add the brown gravy and meat, then let it stew gently for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Make the brain cakes

  1. Chop the boiled brains with sage, thyme, bread crumbs, and flour, then form the mixture into small cakes.

  2. Brush the cakes with egg and fry until browned.

  3. Pound the hard-boiled yolks with raw yolks and a little flour, then roll the mixture into small balls.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the force-meat balls to the hash 10 minutes before serving.

  2. Stir in the port wine.

  3. Pour the hash into a dish, arrange the brain cakes around it, and garnish with lemon.

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. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Leek + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together360 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Lemon + sagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Leek + lemontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together162 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Leeks
Soften and brown to form the sweet, savoury base of the hash.
Brown gravy
Provides liquid and rich flavour as the hash stews.
Brains
Bind with crumbs and flour to form the soft, rich brain cakes.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Pounded with raw yolks to bind the force-meat balls.
Raw egg yolks
Bind the force-meat mixture and help it hold its shape.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add body so the brain cakes hold together.

The step that matters

Frying the brain cakes until browned. Brains are soft and delicate, so the cakes can fall apart if they are handled roughly or fried over too high a heat. Chilling them briefly before frying helps them firm up, and a gentle, even browning forms a crust that holds the shape.

“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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