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Upside-down Tacos

A taco-style chili served over lettuce with onions, tomatoes, cheese, and corn chips.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,713 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Upside-down Tacos

Oven225°F
Timeat least 8 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chili

  1. Select a covered roasting pan with a tight-fitting cover.

  2. Put the ground beef in the roaster and cook, stirring over medium heat, until it loses its redness.

  3. Add the onions and cook until they become transparent.

  4. Add the beans and enchilada sauce, rinsing each can with a little water and adding the water to the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  5. Add salt, starting with 2 tablespoons, then taste and add a bit more if needed.

  6. Cover and cook in a 225°F oven for at least 8 hours; overnight is better.

Assemble and serve

  1. Assemble the buffet: put lettuce in a large salad bowl and toss with dressing to coat each bite.

  2. Put onions, tomatoes, cheese, and corn chips in separate bowls.

  3. Guests serve themselves, starting with a plate of lettuce, then spoonfuls of onions, tomatoes, cheese, a ladle of hot chili, and a topping of corn chips.

Chill and reheat

  1. If possible, cook the chili a day or two ahead, then cool and refrigerate.

  2. When chilled, lift off the fat from the top, then reheat to serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

519Calories
39 gProtein
26 gFat
34 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 11 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Cheddar Cheese1 oz (28g)113
Corn Chip1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Iceberg Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Beannot in our table0
Enchiladanot in our table0
Salad Dressingnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beans + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together500 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Beans + corntop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,211 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Lettuce + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,655 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

Ground beef
Provides the meaty base and fat that carries the chili's flavour.
Chili beans
Add bulk, body and texture to the chili.
Onions
Soften and turn sweet as they cook, adding depth to the chili.
Enchilada sauce
Supplies the chili's main seasoning, spice and liquid.
Iceberg lettuce
Adds crisp, cool texture as the salad base.
Shredded cheddar cheese
Adds richness and fat, and melts into the hot chili.

The step that matters

Long, low oven cooking of the chili. Cooking at a low temperature for many hours lets the beef and beans soften and the flavours blend slowly. Too high a heat can scorch the bottom or dry the chili out, so keep the pan covered.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, beans, sauce, tomato, cheddar cheese, corn):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, beans, sauce, tomato, cheddar cheese, corn. 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.

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