Name: Roasted Cucumber Sandwiches
Yield: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients: 2 1/2 pounds Japanese, Persian, or English hothouse cucumbers; 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted; 3/4 cup labneh (Lebanese yogurt cheese) or Greek-style yogurt; 3/4 cup mayonnaise; 3 tablespoons salt-packed capers, rinsed well, roughly chopped; 1 garlic clove, finely chopped; 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves; 1 tablespoon (or more) fresh lemon juice; Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; 2 9x7 inch loaves focaccia, halved horizontally, or 8 ciabatta rolls; Extra-virgin olive oil; Labneh is available at specialty foods stores and Middle Eastern markets.

Why it works: Capers and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,550 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. 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.

Capers + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,550 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Cucumber + caperstop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together303 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cucumber + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,556 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Cucumber + minttop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together884 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, butter, yogurt, capers, garlic, parsley, mint):

Dillfits better
Tarragonfits better
Thymefits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, butter, yogurt, capers, garlic, parsley, mint. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Capers	1 tbsp (9g) drained	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Peppermint	not in our table	0
Focaccia	not in our table	0

Roasted Cucumber Sandwiches