Picnic Sandwiches

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. Lamb + minttop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together772 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

3. Lamb + breadtop 14% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together598 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together15,338 recipes

   Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

5. Bread + minttop 17% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together244 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Tender, cold roast leg of lamb

Provides the savoury meat filling that forms the bulk of each sandwich.

Fresh bread

Gives structure and holds the filling together in the sandwich.

Butter

Adds richness and a fat layer that helps limit moisture soaking into the bread.

Thick mint sauce

Adds acidity, sweetness and bright mint aroma that contrast with the rich lamb.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, bread, butter, sauce):

1. Capersfits better
2. Parsleyfits better
3. Garlicfits better
4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, bread, butter, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.