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Dry Hash

Dry Hash is a baked potato and beef mixture seasoned with herbs, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Dry Hash

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Wash the potatoes.

  2. Peel the potatoes.

  3. Boil the potatoes.

  4. Mince the onion.

  5. Mince the beef.

  6. Strain the cooked potatoes.

  7. Place them in a bowl.

Shape and bake

  1. Add the beef, onion, herbs, pepper, and salt if needed.

  2. Mash everything together well.

  3. Shape the mixture into a pyramid.

  4. Mark it neatly with a knife.

  5. Place it on a baking tin.

  6. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

Serve

  1. Remove from the tin.

  2. Place on a warm dish.

  3. Serve with parsley on top.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Potato + beeftop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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, once mashed, give it a soft body that holds its shape.
Beef
Provides the savoury, meaty flavour and substance that defines the dish.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and moisture that carries flavour through the mixture.
Mixed herbs
Add aroma and savoury flavour throughout the mash.

The step that matters

Bake until browned. The mixture is already cooked, so baking is for surface colour and flavour. Browning needs a hot oven; too low a heat dries it out without developing the savoury crust.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, beef, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, beef, 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.

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