Name: The English Breakfast Tortilla
Ingredients: 3 medium-sized old potatoes, peeled and cut into thin slices; Olive oil, for frying; 3 1/2 oz streaky bacon/pancetta; 4 free-range pork chipolata sausages, each cut into 3 pieces; Handful of cup mushrooms, sliced; 1/2 onion, finely diced; 1/2 red sweet pepper, de-seeded and cut into 2-inch strips; Pinch of sweet paprika; 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (optional); 6 medium-sized free-range eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned; Salt and pepper

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 ↓

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Olive + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,948 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Mushroom + thymetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,557 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Potato + thymetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,586 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

Swap the thyme

The recipe marks thyme as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, olive, pork, mushroom, onion, pepper, egg):

Garlicfits about as well
Thymethe original
Parsleyfits less well
Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, olive, pork, mushroom, onion, pepper, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Sausage	100g cooked	301
Pork	100g cooked	242
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

The English Breakfast Tortilla