Name: Olive Sandwiches
Ingredients: 5 large olives, minced; 1 stalk of celery, minced; 1 cucumber pickle, minced; 1 teaspoon prepared mustard; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; 1 teaspoon ketchup; Brown bread

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Olive Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

In a bowl, combine minced olives, celery, and cucumber pickle.
Mix in mustard, salt, cayenne, and ketchup to form a paste.

Assemble and cut

Spread the mixture on thin squares of brown bread.
Press two slices together and cut into small squares.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,281 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Olive + cucumbertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,950 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Olives: Provide the main salty, briny flavor of the filling.
Celery: Adds crisp texture and fresh, mild flavor to the minced filling.
Cucumber pickle: Adds tangy acidity and a crunchy bite to the filling.
Prepared mustard: Adds sharp, pungent flavor that balances the richness of the filling.
Ketchup: Adds sweetness and acidity, helping bind the mixture into a paste.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, celery, mustard, pepper, ketchup, bread):

Capsicumfits better
Horseradishfits better
Lettucefits better
Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, celery, mustard, pepper, ketchup, bread. 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.