Name: Mexican Sombrero Dessert
Ingredients: 8 6- to 7-inch tortillas; 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 3 tablespoons sugar; 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided; Vegetable cooking spray; 1/4 cup butter or margarine; 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar; 1/3 cup Kahlua or other coffee-flavored liqueur; 2 medium-size red cooking apples, cored and chopped; 3/4 cup raisins; 3 cups cooked rice; 3/4 cup chopped walnuts; 2 cups nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt; ground cinnamon or nutmeg for garnish

Why it works: Cinnamon and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. 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.

Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Cinnamon + appletop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Cinnamon + ricetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,137 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon + walnuttop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,147 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Rice + walnuttop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Tortillas: Form the crisp, edible sombrero shells that hold the filling.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps form a caramel-like sauce with the butter.
Apples: Contribute juicy texture and tartness that balances the sweetness.
Cooked rice: Gives the filling body and a chewy, substantial texture.
Walnuts: Add crunch and a toasty, nutty flavor to the filling.
Butter: Adds richness and helps carry flavor in the skillet mixture.

The step that matters

Baking the tortilla shells. Baking until brown and crisp dries the tortilla so it holds its shape and stays crunchy under the moist filling; underbaking leaves it soggy.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, butter, coffee, raisin, rice, walnut):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, butter, coffee, raisin, rice, walnut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Tortilla	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Frozen Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6

Mexican Sombrero Dessert