Name: Sandwiches
Ingredients: 2 slices of enriched white bread; 2 teaspoons butter or fortified margarine; 1½ ounces sliced meat, chicken, or cheese; 1½ to 2 ounces mixed fillings (chopped meat, chicken, egg, fish salads, cottage cheese, baked beans, or nut spreads)

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Sandwiches

Ingredients

2 slices of enriched white bread
2 teaspoons butter or fortified margarine
1½ ounces sliced meat, chicken, or cheese
1½ to 2 ounces mixed fillings (chopped meat, chicken, egg, fish salads, cottage cheese, baked beans, or nut spreads)

Directions

Spread butter or margarine on one side of each slice of bread.
Layer the meat, chicken, or cheese on one slice.
Add mixed fillings if desired.
Top with the second slice of bread, buttered side down.
Cut the sandwich in half and serve.

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.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Bread + meattop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,924 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,594 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Enriched white bread: Provides the structure that holds the fillings together.
Butter or fortified margarine: Adds fat and moisture, and a barrier that keeps the bread from soaking up filling moisture.
Sliced meat, chicken, or cheese: Supplies the main protein and savory flavor of the sandwich.

“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.