Name: Flaming Fajitas
Ingredients: 1-1/2 pounds very lean skirt or bottom-round steak, cut 1/4-inch thick and trimmed of visible fat; 1 lime; 4 large garlic cloves, pressed through a garlic press; 1 to 2 tsp pequin quebrado or crushed red pepper flakes; 2 tsp vegetable oil; 1/4 cup brandy; 4 to 6 (12-inch) flour tortillas; 4 to 6 romaine lettuce leaves, cut crosswise into 1-inch strips; Salsa, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, chopped fresh cilantro, sour cream,& guacamole, for serving with the fajitas, if desired

Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,030 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven250°F

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

1-1/2 pounds very lean skirt or bottom-round steak, cut 1/4-inch thick and trimmed of visible fat
1 lime
4 large garlic cloves, pressed through a garlic press
1 to 2 tsp pequin quebrado or crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup brandy
4 to 6 (12-inch) flour tortillas
4 to 6 romaine lettuce leaves, cut crosswise into 1-inch strips
Salsa, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, chopped fresh cilantro, sour cream,& guacamole, for serving with the fajitas, if desired

Directions

Prepare the steak

Cut the steak into 4 to 6 equal-size rectangles.
Pound the steak pieces to flatten them as thin as possible.
Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice over both sides of each piece of steak.
Stack the steaks on a plate and let stand for about 30 minutes.

Sear and flame

Preheat the oven to 250°F.
Place a large, well-seasoned, cast-iron skillet over high heat until very hot (it should smoke).
At the same time, stack the tortillas, wrap in foil, and place in the oven along with 4 to 6 dinner plates.
Add the oil to the skillet and quickly sear the meat on both sides.
Add the brandy to the hot skillet.
Flame the meat by touching the brandy with a lighted match and let the flames burn down. Keep a large piece of foil or a skillet lid nearby in case the flames rise too high; just cover them until they subside.

Assemble and serve

Top the warm tortillas with lettuce and pieces of steak.
Garnish with salsa, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, sour cream, and guacamole, if desired.
To serve, roll each tortilla around the mixture.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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.

Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together29,030 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Lime + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together3,491 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Garlic + tomatotop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together14,075 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Pepper + tomatotop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together17,913 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + tomatotop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together1,654 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

Skirt or bottom-round steak: Provides the meat that is seared quickly and rolled into the tortillas.
Garlic: Adds pungent aroma that flavours the meat during marinating.
Pequin or red pepper flakes: Adds heat and chile flavour to the marinade.
Brandy: Adds aroma and, when flamed, a brief burst of flame that gives the meat a rich flavour.
Flour tortillas: Serve as the soft wrapper that holds the filling together.
Romaine lettuce: Adds crisp texture and freshness to the filling.

The step that matters

Flaming the meat with brandy. Alcohol vapour ignites above the hot pan, so the flame can rise quickly. Covering it with foil or a lid smothers the fire by cutting off oxygen. Adding brandy to a very hot pan also risks splattering, so keep the pan off the heat when adding it if unsure.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lime, garlic, pepper, brandy, flour, lettuce, tomato):

Capsicumbetter flavor fit
Spinachbetter flavor fit
Broccolibetter flavor fit
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lime, garlic, pepper, brandy, flour, lettuce, 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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Flaming Fajitas