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Potato & Paprika Tortilla

This thick, traditional Spanish omelette is bulked out with new potatoes and flavoured with herbs

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Why it works: Potato and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 9,019 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep20 min
Cook25 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: tortillas

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat half the olive oil in a 10-inch (25 cm) nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the potato slices in a single layer and cook for 8 minutes, turning once, until just tender.

  2. Add the remaining olive oil, the onion and the garlic to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until the onion is soft and lightly golden.

  3. Stir in the smoked paprika and the dried oregano or chopped parsley and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.

  4. Beat the eggs in a bowl and pour them over the potato mixture, shaking the pan to spread them evenly. Reduce the heat to low.

  5. Cook for 8 minutes, until the edges are set and the base is golden. Cover the pan if the top is still wet.

  6. Slide the tortilla onto a plate, invert it back into the pan and cook for 3 minutes more until set. The centre should reach 160°F (71°C).

  7. Cut into wedges, scatter with the extra parsley leaves if using, and serve warm or at room temperature.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Potato + oniontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,019 recipes

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

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Potato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,512 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Garlic + oreganotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned 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

Flavor stand-ins for the oregano

The recipe marks oregano as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, potato, onion, garlic, egg):

  1. Parsleybetter flavor fit
  2. Thymebetter flavor fit
  3. Rosemarybetter flavor fit
  4. Oreganothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, potato, onion, garlic, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).