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Nikki's Corned Beef and Swiss Cheese Bites

"This is one of our favorite Christmas Eve snacks. Corned beef and Swiss cheese melted on top of cocktail rye bread makes a perfect bite-sized treat."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and swiss cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 153 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

The recipe

18 servings
Prep15 min
Cook5 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (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.

  1. Preheat the oven broiler to high and set the rack about 6 inches (15 cm) from the heat.

  2. In a bowl, beat the softened cream cheese and Dijon mustard together until smooth and spreadable.

  3. Arrange the cocktail rye slices in a single layer on a baking sheet.

  4. Spread a thin layer of the cream cheese mixture over each rye slice.

  5. Top each slice with some chopped corned beef, a little shredded Swiss cheese, and a sprinkle of chopped green onions.

  6. Broil for 2 to 3 minutes, watching closely, until the cheese melts and the bread edges are golden. The corned beef is already cooked, so it only needs to be heated through.

  7. Serve the bites warm.

By allrecipes. 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. Beef + swiss cheesetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together153 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Cream cheese + swiss cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together54 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Beef + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,091 recipes

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

  4. Mustard + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,243 recipes

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

  5. Bread + beeftop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rye, bread, cream cheese, beef, swiss cheese, onion):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  3. Chiveabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rye, bread, cream cheese, beef, swiss cheese, onion. 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).