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Corned Beef Hash

A hash of chopped boiled corned beef, potatoes, and optional onion, sautéed in butter and moistened with milk or cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Corned Beef Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the cold boiled corned beef finely.

  2. Chop the cold boiled potatoes, but not too finely.

  3. If desired, chop a small onion.

Cook

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

  2. Add the chopped beef and potatoes to the pan.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

  4. Pour in enough milk or cream to moisten the mixture.

  5. Cover the pan and heat until hot.

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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. 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

Corned beef
Provides the main savoury meat flavour and chewy texture in the hash.
Potatoes
Bulk and body, with starch that helps bind the hash and give soft, tender pieces.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the hash brown lightly in the pan.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture so the hash stays tender rather than dry.

The step that matters

Pour in the milk or cream gradually. Too much liquid makes the hash soggy and steamed rather than tender with some crisp edges. Adding just enough to moisten lets the potato starch and fat carry the flavour while the hash still holds its shape and can brown.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, butter, pepper, milk. 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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