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Corn-beef Hash

A hash of corned beef, potatoes, and butter, cooked until a crust forms.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Corn-beef Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the corned beef fine, discarding any hard gristle.

  2. Boil the potatoes with their skins on, then chop them not too fine once cooled.

Cook the hash

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add a few spoonfuls of boiling water; when bubbling, mix in the corned beef and potatoes.

  3. Season with a little salt and plenty of pepper, and heat while stirring gently to avoid mashing the potatoes.

  4. Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes until a crust forms at the bottom.

Shape and serve

  1. Shape the mixture into a neat loaf.

  2. Carefully loosen it from the pan with a spatula, then invert onto a warm platter.

  3. Serve immediately, optionally with toast if the hash is scant or not browned.

  4. If desired, add grated onion, stewed tomatoes, and chopped celery and parsley for extra flavor.

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. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Corned beef
Provides the main savory meat flavor and the bulk of the hash.
Potatoes
Supply starch that binds the hash and gives it a soft, tender body.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the bottom crust brown in the pan.

The step that matters

Let it sit until a crust forms. Leaving the hash undisturbed over heat lets the potato starch and meat fats brown into a crisp bottom crust. Stirring during this stage breaks the crust and makes the hash mushy.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, butter, pepper, tomato, celery, parsley):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, butter, pepper, tomato, celery, parsley. 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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