Name: Pimento Sandwiches
Ingredients: 1 small can of pimentoes, shredded; 1 small sweet white onion, minced; mayonnaise dressing; buttered bread

Why it works: Onion and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,676 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Pimento Sandwiches

Ingredients

1 small can of pimentoes, shredded
1 small sweet white onion, minced
mayonnaise dressing
buttered bread

Directions

In a bowl, mix the shredded pimentos and minced onion with mayonnaise dressing.
Spread the mixture between slices of buttered 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.

Onion + breadtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,676 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Pimentos: Provide the main filling flavour and a soft, moist texture.
Sweet white onion: Adds a sharp, aromatic bite that cuts through the richness of the dressing.
Mayonnaise dressing: Binds the filling and adds moisture and richness.
Bread: Holds the filling and adds a soft, buttery base.

“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.