Name: Vietnamese Sandwich
Ingredients: 1 cup daikon, julienned; cup carrot, fine, julienne cut; 1 cup water; cup rice vinegar; tablespoon sugar; pound cured and cooked ham, not smoked, sliced, thinly; 1 cup coriander, leaves, stems removed; 1 head Boston lettuce; cup unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped; salt; freshly cracked black pepper; brown sugar; tablespoon tamarind paste; 1 tablespoon fresh ginger; 2 tablespoon Thai fish sauce; 1 pound lean ground pork; 3 clove garlic, minced; 3 shallot, chopped; teaspoon ground cloves; 2 tablespoon peanut oil; 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 cup pork pate, preferably pate de campagne; 1 French baguette cut in thirds then halved part way through

Why it works: Rice and peanut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 670 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

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.

Rice + peanuttop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together670 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Coriander + peanuttop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together528 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Carrot + coriandertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,297 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Carrot + lettucetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together976 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Coriander + lettucetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together455 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, vinegar, sugar, ham, coriander, lettuce, peanut):

Mustardfits better
Cucumberfits better
Capsicumfits better
Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, vinegar, sugar, ham, coriander, lettuce, peanut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Peanut Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Lettuce	1 cup shredded (36g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Daikon	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Coriander	not in our table	0
Roasted Peanut	not in our table	0
Tamarind	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Pate	not in our table	0

Vietnamese Sandwich