Skip to main content
Main

Chili Cheese

A spicy cheese dish made with chilies, tomatoes, onions, and lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Tomato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chili Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the chilies and tomatoes very fine.

  2. Add salt to taste.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat lard in a pan until very hot.

  2. Add chopped onions and fry until translucent.

  3. Add the chopped chilies and cheese.

  4. Fry until the cheese is soft but not melted.

  5. Serve immediately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

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. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + cheesetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,896 recipes

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

  3. Onion + cheesetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,849 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

Onion
Softens and turns sweeter as it fries until translucent.
Lard
Provides the fat for frying, carrying heat evenly through the pan.
Chilies
Adds heat and a sharp, fresh aroma to the dish.
Tomatoes
Contributes moisture and mild acidity once finely chopped.
Cheese
Softens into the mixture, giving a creamy, tender texture.

The step that matters

Fry the cheese until soft but not melted. Cheese turns oily and stringy when overheated, as its proteins tighten and fat separates. Gentle frying softens it while the pieces keep their shape and texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cheese):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cheese. 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesMacaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipes