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Enchiladas Rojas

A Mexican dish of tortillas filled with sausage, cheese, and a red chili sauce, baked with green onions.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and epazote work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 27 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven350°F
Timeabout 15 minutes

Ingredients

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

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Soak the chilies in boiling water for 30 minutes.

  2. Wearing gloves, stem, seed and cut the chilies into small pieces.

  3. Put the chilies and 1 cup of soaking water in a blender and purée at high speed for 20 seconds.

  4. Add the tomatoes, onions, garlic, epazote, sugar, salt, and black pepper and blend to a smooth purée.

  5. In a frying pan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and heat over high heat for 3 minutes.

  6. Pour in the tomato sauce and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

  7. Remove from the heat.

  8. In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the cream or half-and-half until well blended.

  9. Slowly pour the egg and cream into the pan with the sauce, stirring constantly.

  10. Cover and set aside.

Make the filling

  1. In another frying pan, fry the sausage meat over moderate heat for 5 minutes or so, until they are lightly browned.

  2. With a slotted spoon, remove the sausage from the pan and drain on paper towels.

  3. Discard the fat in the frying pan.

  4. Place the sausages in a small bowl and stir in 3 tablespoons of sauce and ½ cup cheese.

Assemble and bake

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F.

  2. Dip a tortilla in the tomato sauce.

  3. Fry for a minute each side in the pan.

  4. Remove the tortilla to a warm plate and place about ¼ cup of sausage mixture in the centre.

  5. Roll up the tortilla with the filling inside.

  6. Place filled tortillas in a baking dish, seam side down.

  7. Pour the rest of the tomato sauce over them.

  8. Sprinkle the top with the green onions and ½ cup cheese.

  9. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the top has browned lightly.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

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.

  1. Garlic + epazotetop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together27 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,164 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Tomato + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together14,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Garlic + olivetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried ancho chilies
Provide the main earthy, mildly sweet chili flavor and deep red color of the sauce.
Eggs
Thicken the cream-enriched sauce and give it a smoother, richer body when stirred in.
Cream or half-and-half
Adds richness and softens the sharpness of the tomato and chili sauce.
Chorizo sausages
Supply fat, savory meaty flavor and browning to the filling.
Tortillas
Form the wrapper that holds the filling and soaks up the sauce.
Queso blanco
Melts into the filling and topping to add creamy texture and savory flavor.

The step that matters

Adding the egg and cream to the sauce. Pouring the egg and cream in slowly while stirring constantly keeps the eggs from scrambling in the hot sauce, giving a smooth, evenly thickened result.

Flavor stand-ins for the epazote

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, onion, garlic, sugar, pepper, olive, egg):

  1. Basilbetter flavor fit
  2. Corianderbetter flavor fit
  3. Cuminbetter flavor fit
  4. Epazotethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, garlic, sugar, pepper, olive, egg. 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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