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Fish Hash

A hash of saltfish, potatoes, and pork, fried and seasoned.

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 ↓

Fish Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Fry and combine

  1. Fry the pork slices until brown and remove from the pan.

  2. Pour some of the pork gravy over the chopped fish and potatoes.

  3. Mix thoroughly and transfer to the frypan, smoothing it out with a knife.

Cook and serve

  1. Cover tightly and let it cook on low heat for 30 minutes until browned.

  2. Fold over, turn out onto a platter, and garnish with the fried pork.

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

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

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

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

  4. Fish + porktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together668 recipes

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

  5. Milk + porktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Salt-fish
Provides the main flavour and the savoury body of the hash.
Potatoes
Their starch helps bind the fish and hold the hash together while it cooks.
Pork
Its fat and drippings add savoury flavour and browning to the gravy and crust.

The step that matters

Cover tightly and cook on low heat. Low, covered heat cooks the hash through and lets the bottom brown gently. Too high a heat scorches the underside before the centre sets, while too little heat leaves it soft and pale.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, milk, pepper, pork):

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Tomatofits less well
  4. Asparagusfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, milk, pepper, pork. 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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