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Russian Sandwiches

A sandwich with Neufchatel cheese and a vinaigrette-like olive dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Russian Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Spread slices of bread with Neufchatel cheese.

  2. Remove stones from olives and chop the olives finely.

Make the dressing

  1. In a double boiler, combine sugar, butter, salt, vinegar, mustard, and egg yolks, then stir the mixture together.

  2. Cook until thickened.

  3. Fold in beaten egg whites and chopped olives.

  4. Spread the olive dressing between the slices of bread and cheese.

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.

  1. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing as they set during cooking, giving it a rich, smooth body.
Egg whites
Folded in when beaten, they lighten the dressing and add airy texture.
Neufchatel cheese
Provides a soft, creamy base layer that holds the sandwich together and adds moisture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the sweetness and richness.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother, richer dressing texture.

The step that matters

Cook until thickened. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with gentle heat. If the heat is too high or cooking goes on too long, they can scramble and turn grainy, so the dressing should be cooked slowly over a double boiler and stirred until it just coats a spoon.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, cheese, sugar, butter, vinegar, egg, olive):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Asparagusfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, cheese, sugar, butter, vinegar, egg, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

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