Name: American Chili Con Carne
Ingredients: 2 cups chili beans; 1 lb ground beef (with some fat); 1 large onion, chopped; 6 tablespoons bacon grease; ½ tablespoon salt; ½ teaspoon white pepper; Dash of cayenne pepper; 1 teaspoon chili powder; 1 ½ cups cream

Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

American Chili Con Carne

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

Soak the beans in cold water for several hours, then boil until tender, draining the liquid.

Make the chili

In a skillet, combine the ground beef, chopped onion, and bacon grease. Simmer until the onion is tender and browned.
Add the salt, white pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and cream to the skillet.
Bring the mixture to a boil and serve hot.
If too thick, add water, milk, or cream to reach desired consistency.
Adjust the chili powder to taste if needed.

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.

Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,242 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,733 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 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

Ground beef: Provides the main meaty body and savory flavor, with its fat adding richness to the chili.
Chili beans: Add bulk, soft texture and earthy body to the chili.
Onion: Softens and browns while adding sweetness and savory depth to the base.
Cream: Adds richness and a smoother, creamier texture to the finished chili.
Bacon grease: Carries heat and flavor through the onion and beef, adding smoky richness and fat.

The step that matters

Simmering the beef and onion until browned. Browning the meat and onion builds deep, savory flavor through the Maillard reaction. Cooking only until grey leaves the chili tasting flat.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, beef, onion, pepper, cream):

Garlicfits better
Cuminfits better
Celeryfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, beef, onion, pepper, cream. 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.

Roast Beef211 recipes

Beef Loaf175 recipes

Corned Beef87 recipes

Beef Broth67 recipes

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American Chili Con Carne