Why it works: Onion and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,779 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Enchiladas
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the chile sauce
Toast the chiles in the oven.
Soak the toasted chiles in water.
Grind the soaked chiles to a pulp.
Strain the pulp to remove skins.
Mix the strained pulp with salt and vinegar to make a chile sauce.
Fry the chile mixture with a little butter.
Make and layer the enchiladas
Make thin cornmeal pancakes about 6 inches across.
Dip each pancake into the chile mixture.
Layer the dipped pancakes on a plate with chopped onion, grated cheese, and halved olives.
Continue layering pancakes with the same toppings as desired.
Pour the remaining chile mixture over the top.
Bake and serve
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 3 minutes.
Serve hot, cutting like a layer cake.
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.
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Onion + olivetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cheese + olivetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,802 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
-
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Olive + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,887 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Red chiles
- Provide the main flavor and red color of the sauce.
- Cornmeal
- Forms the thin pancakes that give the dish its structure.
- Grated cheese
- Melts between the layers, adding richness and binding them together.
- Ripe olives
- Add a salty, fatty note and texture between the layers.
- Raw onion
- Adds sharp, pungent crunch that contrasts with the softened layers.
The step that matters
Bake in a hot oven. The short bake at high heat sets the cheese and warms the layers through without drying them out. Baking too long can toughen the cornmeal and dry the sauce.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, olive, butter):
- Tomatofits better
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, olive, butter. 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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