Name: Savoury Hash of Australian Meat
Ingredients: 3 pounds tender steak, cut evenly and 1.5 inches thick; 1 shallot, minced; 1 small onion, minced; 1-2 strips of bacon, cut small; coarse sea salt; pepper

Why it works: Shallot and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,431 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Savoury Hash of Australian Meat

Ingredients

Directions

In a stewpan, add the minced shallot and onion with the bacon.
Cook gently until softened.
Add the steak and season with coarse sea salt and pepper.
Cover and simmer gently for 1.5 hours without boiling.
Ensure the potatoes and onions are almost reduced to a mash.

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.

Shallot + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,431 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,898 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).