Name: A Good Filling for Sandwiches
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons sweet cream; one block of cream cheese; 3 lemons; three slices; lemon juice

Why it works: Cream and cream cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,087 recipes. Both carry gamma-decalactone, which smells peach, creamy. The science ↓

A Good Filling for Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Make the spread

Work the sweet cream into the block of cream cheese.
Add the juice of three lemons and mix until the mixture can be spread easily.

Assemble the sandwich

Cut the bread about one-half an inch thick.
Spread the mixture onto three slices of bread.
Place one slice on top of the other.
Cut the sandwich down like a cake.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

162Calories

3 gProtein

15 gFat

6 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 3 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Cream Cheese	1 oz (28g)	99
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.). 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. See the original page.

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.

Cream + cream cheesetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,087 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Cream cheese + lemontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together881 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Cream + lemontop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together15,640 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,640 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Cream cheese: Provides the creamy, rich base that gives the spread its body.
Sweet cream: Adds fat and moisture, softening the cream cheese so it spreads easily.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and thins the spread.