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Texas Easy Chili

A hearty chili made with chuck roast or ground beef, tomato juice, spices, and served with lime wedges and sour cream.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Oregano and cumin 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 ↓

Texas Easy Chili

6 (1 cup each)
Time45 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut chuck roast into bite‑size pieces or form ground beef into small meatballs (1 inch / 25 mm in size).

  2. Fry beef in cooking oil until outside is browned.

Make the chili

  1. Add minced garlic and cook for 2 minutes.

  2. Combine chili powder, flour, oregano and cumin in a bowl and mix well.

  3. Sprinkle mixture over cooking beef and stir until beef is well coated with spice mixture.

  4. Cook for 1 minute.

  5. Add tomato juice and bouillon cubes. Stir for about 15 seconds.

  6. Simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  7. Remove from heat and add salt and black pepper to taste.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

995Calories
59 gProtein
32 gFat
117 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 14 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
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
Meatballnot 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 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. Oregano + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together983 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

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

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

  4. Garlic + oreganotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,756 recipes

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

  5. Cumin + tomatotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,272 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

Chuck roast or ground beef
Provides the meat that becomes tender and rich as it simmers.
Flour
Thickens the chili as it cooks into the tomato liquid.
Chili powder
Supplies the main chili flavor and color for the dish.
Tomato juice
Forms the liquid base that simmers the beef and carries the spices.
Garlic
Adds aromatic pungency that mellows during cooking.

The step that matters

Coating the beef with the spice and flour mixture before adding liquid. Toasting the spices and flour briefly in the hot fat deepens their flavor and lets the flour coat the meat so the liquid thickens evenly rather than forming lumps.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Corianderfits better
  3. Basilfits better
  4. Clovethe original

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