Why it works: Beef and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,445 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
The recipe
18 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Arrange the taco shells on a baking sheet and warm them in the oven for about 5 minutes.
Cook the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up, for about 8 minutes until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F (71°C) in the thickest part.
Drain the fat from the skillet. Stir in the ketchup and a splash of water, then simmer over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes until slightly thickened.
While the beef simmers, dice the tomato and shred the lettuce, then set them aside with the cheese.
Spoon the beef mixture into the warm taco shells. Top each with cheese, shredded lettuce and diced tomato, and serve right away.
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.
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Beef + tomatotop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,445 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + lettucetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,654 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cheddar cheese + tomatotop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,865 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + cheddar cheesetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together951 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + lettucetop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together661 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
Flavor stand-ins for the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ketchup, cheddar cheese, tomato):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Onionbetter flavor fit
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ketchup, cheddar cheese, tomato. 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).
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