Name: Raisin-nut Sandwich
Ingredients: ½ pound seeded layer raisins; ½ pound English walnuts; 2 tablespoons grape juice; slices of bread

Why it works: Walnut and grape are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,427 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Raisin-nut Sandwich

Ingredients

½ pound seeded layer raisins
½ pound English walnuts
2 tablespoons grape juice
slices of bread

Directions

Chop the raisins and walnuts finely.
Moisten the mixture with grape juice.
Spread the mixture on slices of bread.
Lay another slice of bread on top to form a sandwich.

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.

Walnut + grapetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,427 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Raisin + walnuttop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together647 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Raisin + breadtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,111 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Grape + breadtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together131 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Walnut + breadtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together714 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Seeded layer raisins: Provide sweetness and a chewy texture that binds the filling.
English walnuts: Add crunch and a mildly bitter, nutty flavor to the filling.
Grape juice: Adds moisture and sweetness so the chopped fruit and nut mixture holds together.