Name: Scottish Sandwich
Ingredients: beef from the round; mustard; coarse sea salt; black pepper

Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Scottish Sandwich

Ingredients

beef from the round
mustard
coarse sea salt
black pepper

Directions

Cut the beef into three layers, with the middle layer the thinnest.
Spread mustard on the beef.
Season the layers with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Assemble the layers, ensuring the fat is only around the edges.
Cut the sandwich to a thickness of ½ inch.
Enjoy the sandwich with proper etiquette.

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.

Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 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).
Beef + mustardtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,664 recipes

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