Why it works: Onion and potato 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 ↓
Hashed Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Make the gravy
Cut off the fat and skin from the undercooked roast beef.
Place the trimmings and broken bones in a stewpan with the onions, potatoes, and sweet herbs.
Add the warm water or broth.
Cover and simmer for about 1 hour.
Skim and strain the mixture, removing all fat.
Thicken and finish
In another stewpot, melt the butter.
Once melted, stir in the flour for a few minutes.
Add the strained gravy to the flour mixture and bring to a boil.
Stir in the ketchup and the sliced beef.
Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes without boiling.
Serve
Serve in a deep dish with triangular pieces of toast dipped in the gravy around the sides.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + beeftop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + walnuttop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together342 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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 roast beef
- Provides the meat that is warmed through in the finished gravy.
- Butter
- Melted fat that is combined with flour to start the thickening base.
- Flour
- Cooked briefly in melted butter to form a roux that thickens the gravy.
- Onions
- Release sweetness and savory flavor into the broth as it simmers.
- Potatoes
- Break down during simmering, adding body and starch to the gravy.
- Ketchup
- Adds sweetness and acidity, giving the gravy a tangy, rounded flavor.
The step that matters
Simmer the sliced beef without boiling. Boiling toughens the meat and can make the thickened gravy separate or turn grainy. Gentle simmering keeps the beef tender and the sauce smooth.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, potato, butter, flour, ketchup, beef):
- Beansfits better
- Sesamefits better
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, potato, butter, flour, ketchup, beef. 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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