Name: Hot Apple Sandwiches
Ingredients: 1 cup apple sauce; coarse sea salt (to taste); 2 teaspoons raw nut meal (slightly roasted); thin slices of graham bread

Why it works: Apple and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,790 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Hot Apple Sandwiches

Ingredients

1 cup apple sauce
coarse sea salt (to taste)
2 teaspoons raw nut meal (slightly roasted)
thin slices of graham bread

Directions

Make the filling

In a bowl, combine apple sauce with a pinch of coarse sea salt and sweeten to taste.
Stir in the roasted raw nut meal.

Assemble and serve

Spread the mixture on thin slices of graham bread.
Top with another slice to make sandwiches.
Serve hot.

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.

Apple + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,790 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sauce + breadtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,934 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Apple + saucetop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together965 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Apple sauce: Provides moisture and a soft, spreadable base for the filling.
Raw nut meal: Adds body and a toasty, nutty aroma to the filling.
Graham bread: Gives the sandwich its structure and a slightly sweet, wheaty flavour.