Name: Chicken Sandwiches
Ingredients: 2 cups boiled chicken, minced; ½ cup chopped celery; jellied broth, to moisten; buttered milk rising bread

Why it works: Milk and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients

2 cups boiled chicken, minced
½ cup chopped celery
jellied broth, to moisten
buttered milk rising bread

Directions

In a bowl, combine minced chicken and chopped celery. Season to taste.
Moisten the mixture with jellied broth and mix well.
Spread the mixture between two slices of buttered milk rising bread.

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.

Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,389 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,258 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
Chicken + celerytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,375 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Celery + breadtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,110 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

Boiled chicken: Provides the main protein and bulk of the filling.
Celery: Adds crunch and a fresh, mild flavor to the filling.
Jellied broth: Adds moisture and savory flavor so the chicken filling stays tender.
Milk rising bread: Holds the filling and adds soft texture and mild sweetness.