Why it works: Sweetcorn and lime work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 50 recipes mention both. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
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.
Finely dice the red onion and the green chilli, then mix them with the sweetcorn, the 20g jalapeno chillies finely chopped, the fresh mint and fresh coriander, and the juice of the lime. Season with salt and black pepper and chill for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, grate the cheddar, shred the cooked chicken, finely chop the small bunch of coriander, and chop the 60g jalapeno chillies.
In a bowl, mix the shredded chicken with the chopped jalapenos, chopped coriander and some of the sour cream. Season with salt and black pepper.
Brush one side of a tortilla lightly with some of the olive oil. Place it oil side down in a dry frying pan over medium heat.
Scatter a quarter of the cheddar over half the tortilla, add a quarter of the chicken mixture, then fold the tortilla over to close.
Cook for about 3 minutes per side until golden and the cheese has melted, making sure the chicken is heated through to 165°F (74°C). Repeat with the remaining tortillas, cheese and filling.
Cut each quesadilla into wedges and serve warm with the sweetcorn salsa and the remaining sour cream.
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.
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Sweetcorn + limetop 8% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together50 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Coriander + limetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,536 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Flour + jalapenotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together488 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Jalapeno + limetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together1,035 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Jalapeno + coriandertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together1,363 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the jalapeno
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, chicken, onion, coriander, cream, olive, sweetcorn):
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- Cuminbetter flavor fit
- Gingerbetter flavor fit
- Jalapenothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, chicken, onion, coriander, cream, olive, sweetcorn. 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).
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