Name: Pastel De Papas
Ingredients: 4 cups of mashed potatoes (add butter and salt to taste); 2 eggs; 1/2 teaspoon of chopped parsley; 2 tablespoons of grated cheese; 1 onion, diced; 2 tomatoes, diced; 1 tablespoon tomato sauce; 1 minced clove of fresh garlic (may replace with powder); 1/2 cup of oil; 2 cups ground beef; Spices to taste

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. 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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,798 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Parsley + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,398 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes: Form the base and top layers, providing the bulk and soft texture of the pie.
Eggs: Help bind the potato mixture so the layers hold together when baked.
Ground beef: Supplies the savory, meaty filling layer and its browning flavor.
Onion: Softens and browns in the oil, adding sweetness and aromatic depth to the filling.
Tomatoes: Add moisture and gentle acidity that blends with the beef into the filling.
Grated cheese: Melts into the filling and adds richness and savory flavor.

The step that matters

Cook the onions until light brown before adding tomatoes. Browning the onions builds sweet, deep flavor through caramelization. Adding tomatoes too early would release moisture and steam the onions instead of browning them.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, egg, cheese, onion, tomato, sauce):

Garlicfits better
Capersfits about as well
Thymefits about as well
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, egg, cheese, onion, tomato, sauce. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Pastel De Papas

Pastel De Papas

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

Assemble and bake

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)