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Codfish Hash

A fried hash of boiled codfish, potatoes, salt pork, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Codfish Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Fry the pork

  1. Fry the salt pork in small pieces until brown.

  2. Remove half the pork and add the codfish and potatoes to the remaining pork.

Cook the hash

  1. Let it steam for 5 minutes without stirring, being careful not to let it burn.

  2. Add the milk and stir thoroughly.

  3. Place the remaining pork around the edge of the pan and add a little butter on top.

  4. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes until a brown crust forms.

  5. Turn it onto a platter 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.

  1. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Codfish
Provides the main flaky body of the hash once cooked and mixed with potato.
Potatoes
Add starchy bulk and body, helping the hash hold together as it cooks.
Salt pork
Renders fat for frying and adds savory flavor, with crisp browned bits.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the mixture as it is stirred in.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and helps the surface brown.

The step that matters

Steaming without stirring. Leaving the hash undisturbed lets a crust form on the bottom of the pan. Stirring too early or letting it burn spoils the browned texture the dish depends on.

“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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