Name: Tomato, Basil, and American Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients: 2 slices fresh white bread; 2 slices fresh ripe tomatoes; 3-4 fresh basil leaves; 1-2 tablespoon mayonnaise; 2 slices American cheese; salt and pepper

Why it works: Tomato and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,979 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Spread mayonnaise on one side of both slices of bread, place basil leaves on the mayonnaise, then tomato and cheese on one slice. Season with salt and pepper.
Place the slice of bread on top and slice in half side to side or corner to corner, then enjoy.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Tomato + basiltop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together3,979 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Basil + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together5,292 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Bread + cheesetop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Tomato + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together17,913 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Bread + tomatotop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

White bread: Provides the structure that holds the fillings together.
Tomatoes: Adds moisture and acidity that brighten the sandwich.
Mayonnaise: Adds fat and richness, and keeps the bread from soaking up tomato juice.
American cheese: Melts softly into the filling, adding creaminess and savoury flavour.

“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.