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Taco Salad Made Over

"This crisp salad is packed with taco flavour and oh so easy to make."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,445 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep20 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: 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. Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Press each tortilla into an oven-safe bowl or over an inverted muffin cup and bake 8 to 10 minutes until crisp. Let cool in the shape.

  2. Cook the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up, about 6 minutes until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F (71°C). Drain the fat.

  3. Stir the chili powder into the beef and cook 1 minute. Add the rinsed kidney beans and a splash of water, then heat through, about 3 minutes.

  4. Toss the torn salad greens with the chopped tomato and the dressing in a large bowl until lightly coated.

  5. Divide the dressed greens among the tortilla bowls. Top each with the beef and bean mixture, then the salsa and shredded Tex Mex cheese. Serve right away.

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. Beef + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,445 recipes

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

  2. Wheat + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together467 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  3. Kidney beans + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together821 recipes

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

  4. Wheat + beeftop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together319 recipes

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

  5. Cheese + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,892 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

Flavor stand-ins for the kidney beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, beef, cheese, tomato):

  1. Beansbetter flavor fit
  2. Peanutbetter flavor fit
  3. Walnutbetter flavor fit
  4. Kidney beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, beef, cheese, tomato. 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).