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Frito Pie Chili

A chili simmered with beef, onions, tomatoes, spices, thickened with masa and flour, served warm.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Cumin and oregano match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 983 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Frito Pie Chili

serves 8
Time1 hour

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the beef

  1. In a large saucepan, heat the vegetable oil.

  2. When the oil is hot, add the onions and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the vegetables start to wilt.

  3. Season with salt and cayenne.

  4. Stir in the beef, chili powder, cumin, crushed red pepper, and oregano. Brown the meat for 5 to 6 minutes.

Simmer the chili

  1. Stir in the garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, and beef stock. Bring the liquid up to a boil and reduce to a simmer.

  2. Simmer the liquid, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, or until the beef is tender. Skim off the fat occasionally.

  3. Mix the masa and flour together with a little liquid from the stock pot. Slowly stir in the masa slurry and continue to cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  4. Adjust salt, cayenne and other spices as needed.

  5. Keep warm until ready to use or serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

921Calories
43 gProtein
31 gFat
116 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Oregano1 tsp dried (1.8g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

  1. Cumin + oreganotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together983 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Cumin + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Oregano + tomatotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,767 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Oregano + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef bottom round
Provides the meat that becomes tender during long, slow simmering.
Onions
Soften and sweeten as they cook, building a base flavor for the chili.
Crushed tomatoes
Add acidity and liquid that combine into the body of the chili.
Tomato paste
Adds concentrated tomato flavor and thickens the simmering liquid.
Masa
Thickens the chili and adds a corn flavor as it cooks.
Flour
Helps thicken the chili along with the masa.

The step that matters

Adding the masa slurry. Stirring masa and flour into hot liquid without first mixing them with a little cold or warm liquid causes lumps. Mixing them smooth first lets them thicken the chili evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, beef, cumin, oregano, garlic, tomato, flour):

  1. Eggplantfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, beef, cumin, oregano, garlic, tomato, flour. 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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