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Picadillo

A ground beef stew with onions, garlic, bell pepper, potatoes, tomatoes, and seasonings.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Picadillo

Serves 6
Timeabout 7 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large, heavy pan, heat oil over medium-high heat, then dump onions, garlic, bell pepper and seasonings into the heated oil.

Make the picadillo

  1. When the bell pepper starts to discolor, add the ground beef, stirring to break up large pieces, and brown evenly, cooking for about 7 minutes.

  2. As the meat is browning, add potato, beef broth and diced tomatoes.

  3. Simmer until picadillo thickens, stirring occasionally.

Serve

  1. Serve hot with Spanish (Mexican) rice and tortilla.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

665Calories
35 gProtein
31 gFat
65 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black 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. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + cumintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,272 recipes

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

  4. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 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 main protein and savory browned flavor that builds the body of the dish.
Potatoes (in the method)
Soften as they simmer, adding starch that helps thicken the sauce and bulk up the dish.
Diced tomatoes
Add acidity and liquid that combine with the broth to form the simmering sauce.
Beef broth
Supplies the cooking liquid that the potatoes absorb and that reduces into the thickened sauce.
Yellow onion
Releases sweetness and aromatic depth as it softens in the hot oil.
Green bell pepper
Adds fresh, slightly bitter vegetable flavor that mellows during cooking.

The step that matters

Browning the ground beef. Stirring to break up large pieces and letting the meat sit long enough to brown creates Maillard browning, which builds deep flavor. Crowding or stirring too early leaves the meat grey and steamed.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Oreganofits better
  2. Corianderfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, garlic, pepper, potato, tomato, cumin. 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.

More picadillo recipes

Cuban 3

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