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Slow Cooker Tamale Pie

"This is a simple tamale pie recipe that tastes very similar to authentic tamales without all the work! I sometimes double this recipe and make it in a large slow cooker. This recipe is a big hit with my husband. Serve with various toppings such as sour cream, more cheese, salsa, green onions, tomatoes, etc. "

This recipe’s ingredient list has no crust or pastry, so it bakes more like a fruit dish than a pastry pie.

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and milk match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 11,363 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

6 servings
Prep10 min
Cook5 hr 10 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up, until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F (71°C), about 8 minutes. Drain off the fat.

  2. Stir the drained kidney beans, enchilada sauce and garlic powder into the beef, then spread the mixture evenly in a slow cooker.

  3. In a bowl, whisk the cornbread mix, milk, egg and melted butter until just combined. Do not overmix.

  4. Spoon the batter evenly over the beef mixture in the slow cooker.

  5. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours, until the topping is set in the center and a toothpick inserted there comes out clean.

  6. Sprinkle the shredded Cheddar over the top, cover, and let stand 10 minutes until melted. Scoop out to serve.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Bread + milktop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together11,363 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Corn + milktop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,953 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Beef + corntop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,028 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Beef + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,758 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  5. Beef + breadtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, kidney beans, sauce, corn, bread, milk, egg):

  1. Celerybetter flavor fit
  2. Pepperabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Nutmegabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, kidney beans, sauce, corn, bread, milk, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).