Name: Turkey Hash.— No. 2
Ingredients: 1 pint chopped turkey; 1 pint mashed potatoes; ½ cup cream; 2 tablespoons chopped celery; 1 tablespoon butter; Salt to taste; Cayenne pepper to taste; Bread crumbs (for topping); Butter (for topping)

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Turkey Hash.— No. 2

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Mix

Mix the turkey, mashed potatoes, and cream together until well combined.
Add the chopped celery, salt, and cayenne pepper, and mix well.
Melt the butter and stir it into the mixture.

Cook and serve

Transfer everything to a skillet and stir for 5 minutes, or place in a baking dish.
If baking, sprinkle bread crumbs and pieces of butter on top and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.
If not baking, prepare some hot buttered toast in the dish before serving.

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.

Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 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

Turkey: Provides the main meaty body and savory flavor of the hash.
Mashed potatoes: Bind the mixture and add creamy body that holds the hash together.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness so the mixture stays soft rather than dry.
Celery: Adds a crisp, slightly vegetal note that contrasts with the soft potato and meat.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, and browns the topping when baked.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, cream, celery, butter, pepper, bread):

Carrotfits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well
Leekfits about as well
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, cream, celery, butter, pepper, bread. 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.