Name: Honduran Quesadillas
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups margarine; 3 cups white sugar; 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour; 1 cup rice flour; 1 tablespoon baking powder; 2 cups warm milk; 6 eggs; 2 cups Parmesan cheese; 1/2 cup white sugar; 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup sesame seeds

Why it works: Rice and sesame match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 984 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. 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.

Rice + sesametop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together984 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,374 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Rice + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together879 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Flour + sesametop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,057 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Margarine: Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the cake sets.
All-purpose flour: Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Parmesan cheese: Adds savory flavor and fat, and helps the cake brown in the oven.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
Rice flour: Gives the cake a finer, more tender texture than wheat flour alone.

The step that matters

Beating in the eggs and Parmesan slowly. Adding eggs gradually lets them emulsify into the creamed fat and sugar; adding them too fast can cause the batter to curdle and bake unevenly.

Swap the sesame

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, rice, milk, egg, parmesan cheese):

Almondfits better
Chestnutfits about as well
Beansfits about as well
Sesamethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, rice, milk, egg, parmesan cheese. 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49

Honduran Quesadillas