Why it works: Beans and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,711 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: tortillas
Directions
Prepare the components
Fry tortillas in hot oil until crisp; reserve on paper towel.
Grill flank steak and cut in thin slices across the grain.
Assemble the stacks
Layer 3 ounces of flank steak and 1/4 cup shredded cheeses on one corn tortilla.
Top with a blue corn tortilla.
Cover the blue corn tortilla with ¼ cup black beans and 2 tablespoons sour cream.
Cover with the final corn tortilla.
Spread 1/4 cup guacamole on top and garnish with tomatillo, jalapeno pepper, onion, tomato and avocado slices.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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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Beans + tomatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,711 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Corn + beanstop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,211 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Corn + tomatotop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,098 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + tomatotop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,913 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + tomatotop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together20,622 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
- Corn tortillas
- Fried until crisp, they give each stack a sturdy base and crunchy layers.
- Flank steak
- Provides the main protein; thin slices across the grain stay tender to eat.
- Monterey jack cheese
- Melts into the layers, binding the steak and beans together.
- Black beans
- Add soft, starchy body and moisture that balances the crisp tortillas.
- Sour cream
- Adds richness and cooling moisture that softens the bite of the jalapeno.
- Avocado
- Adds creamy fat and a mild, rich texture to the top layer.
The step that matters
Frying the tortillas until crisp. Tortillas fried too briefly stay soft and absorb moisture from the fillings, so the stack turns soggy. They need to be fully crisp and drained before assembly.
Flavor stand-ins for the jalapeno
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, cheese, beans, cream, pepper, onion, tomato):
- Celerybetter flavor fit
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- Cuminbetter flavor fit
- Jalapenothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, cheese, beans, cream, pepper, onion, 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).
“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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