Name: Substantial Camper's Sandwich
Ingredients: 2 slices white bread, ¼ inch thick; 1 medium tomato, thinly sliced; 1 can salmon, minced; butter, for spreading; mayonnaise or boiled dressing (optional)

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 ↓

Substantial Camper's Sandwich

Ingredients

2 slices white bread, ¼ inch thick
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1 can salmon, minced
butter, for spreading
mayonnaise or boiled dressing (optional)

Directions

Prepare

Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread.

Assemble

On one slice, layer the tomato slices.
Top with the minced salmon.
Place the second slice of bread on top.
Add mayonnaise or boiled dressing to the salmon if desired.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,481 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Bread + salmontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together941 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Tomato + salmontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,439 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

White bread: Provides the structure that holds the filling together.
Salmon: Forms the savory, protein-rich filling that gives the sandwich its main flavor.
Tomato: Adds moisture and bright acidity that balance the rich salmon.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, and softens the bread's surface for a more pleasant bite.