Name: Layered Enchilada Pie
Ingredients: 1 pound lean ground beef; 1 large white onion; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 2 small cans tomato sauce; 1 teaspoon chili powder; 2½ ounce can chopped sliced olives; ½ teaspoon ground cumin; 6 tortillas cut into strips; 1 cup grated sharp cheese; 2 tablespoons chopped green bell pepper; 2 tablespoons chopped white onion; ⅔ cup water; 1 cup whole kernel corn

Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. 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.

Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Tomato + cumintop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,272 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Olive + cumintop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,853 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Onion + cumintop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,498 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Pepper + cumintop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,382 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean ground beef: Provides the main meaty body of the sauce and savory browned flavor.
Tortillas: Form the layers that soak up the sauce and give the pie its structure when baked.
Tomato sauce: Supplies the liquid base and acidity that flavors the filling and keeps it moist.
Sharp cheese: Melts over the top to add richness and a browned, savory crust.
White onion: Adds sweetness and aroma as it cooks into the sauce.

The step that matters

Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Resting lets the hot filling set and settle between the layers, so the pie cuts into clean wedges instead of collapsing into loose sauce.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, tomato, sauce, olive, cumin, cheese):

Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits about as well
Eggplantfits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, tomato, sauce, olive, cumin, 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Tortilla	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Green Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Layered Enchilada Pie