Name: Club Sandwich
Ingredients: 4 slices of bread; mayonnaise dressing; 2 lettuce leaves; thin slices of cold canned chicken; crispy slices of cooked bacon; 1 slice of tomato

Why it works: Lettuce and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,655 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Club Sandwich

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Toast the bread until golden brown.
Spread mayonnaise dressing on each slice of toast.

Assemble and serve

Layer two lettuce leaves on the first slice.
Add thin slices of cold canned chicken on top of the lettuce.
Place crispy slices of bacon and a slice of tomato on top.
Cover with the second slice of toast 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.

Lettuce + tomatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,655 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Chicken + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,031 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Bread + chickentop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,258 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
Bread + lettucetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together602 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread: Provides the crisp, sturdy structure that holds the layers together.
Mayonnaise dressing: Adds moisture and richness, and helps bind the layers to the toast.
Lettuce leaves: Adds cool, crisp texture and moisture between the layers.
Cold canned chicken: Supplies the protein and the main savory filling.
Cooked bacon: Adds salty, smoky flavour and a contrasting crunch.
Tomato: Adds juiciness and a light acidity that balances the fat.