Why it works: Mustard and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Hash Oakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Heat a frying pan with the beef gravy, clear soup, or boiling water.
Stir in the butter until melted, then bring to a boil.
Add the mustard, followed by the leftover meat and potatoes.
Stir constantly for about 5 minutes until bubbling hot but not stiff.
Transfer to a hot dish and let cool.
Shape and fry
Mold the cooled mixture into flat cakes and roll in flour.
Heat beef dripping in a frying pan until very hot.
Fry the cakes until light brown on both sides, turning carefully.
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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Mustard + potatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,340 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Beef + meattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,533 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leftover meat and potatoes
- Form the bulk of the cakes, giving body and substance to the hash.
- Beef gravy
- Supplies moisture and savoury flavour that bind the mixture together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, improving flavour and softening the texture.
- Flour
- Coats the cakes so they brown in the frying pan and develop a crisp surface.
- Beef dripping
- Conducts heat for frying and adds savoury flavour that promotes browning.
The step that matters
Fry the cakes until light brown on both sides. The mixture must be cooled and firm before shaping, and the pan must be very hot. A hot, well-greased pan sears the flour coating quickly, forming a crust that holds the cake together and browns it evenly.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, meat, potato, flour):
- Chivefits better
- Onionfits better
- Leekfits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, meat, potato, flour. 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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