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Cold Mutton Hash

A cold hash of mutton, potatoes, and onions seasoned with summer savory, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion 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 ↓

Cold Mutton Hash

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a skillet, combine the potatoes and onion with enough water to cover.

  2. Stew for 30 minutes.

  3. Add the butter, summer savory, mutton, salt, and pepper.

  4. Stir for 10 minutes.

  5. If the hash is thin, mix 1 teaspoon of flour with the butter before adding.

  6. Serve on pieces of buttered toast.

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

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

  2. Summer savory + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together671 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Onion + summer savorytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together299 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Provides the main meat flavour and body of the hash.
Potatoes
Break down during stewing to add starch and thicken the hash.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries the savory flavour.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the hash if it turns out thin.

The step that matters

Stewing the potatoes and onion. The potatoes must be fully covered and stewed until tender so they soften and release starch, which helps bind the hash. Too little water can scorch them.

Swap the summer savory

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, potato, onion, butter, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Summer savorythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, potato, onion, butter, pepper. 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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