Name: Pimento Sandwiches
Ingredients: 1 cup grated cheese; 1 cup chopped pimentoes (from a can); 1 tablespoon lemon juice; ¼ teaspoon salt; mayonnaise; bread

Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Pimento Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Combine grated cheese, chopped pimentos, lemon juice, and salt in a bowl.
Spread the mixture with mayonnaise on slices of bread.
Cut the sandwiches into desired shapes.

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.

Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Lemon + breadtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,445 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Cheese + lemontop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,154 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

Grated cheese: Provides the main body, richness and savory flavor of the filling.
Chopped pimentos: Adds sweet, mild flavor and moisture to the filling.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the rich cheese.
Mayonnaise: Adds fat and moisture that bind the filling and keep the bread from drying out.