Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓
A Dressing for Sandwiches
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
In a bowl, combine the butter, mustard, sweet oil, pepper, salt, and egg yolk.
Mix everything together smoothly and refrigerate until cool.
Assemble the sandwiches
Chop the tongue, ham, and cold chicken finely.
Spread the dressing on a slice of bread, add the meat mixture, and top with another slice of bread.
Press the sandwich together firmly and trim the edges for uniformity.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + chickentop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,192 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, spreadable body to the dressing.
- Egg yolk
- Emulsifies the butter and oil so the dressing holds together rather than separating.
- Sweet oil
- Adds fat and moisture, keeping the dressing soft and spreadable.
- Mixed mustard
- Adds sharpness that cuts through the richness of the butter and meats.
The step that matters
Refrigerate the dressing until cool. Butter and egg yolk emulsions are soft at room temperature. Chilling firms the dressing so it spreads without soaking into the bread or sliding out of the sandwich.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, egg, ham, chicken, bread):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Potatofits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, egg, ham, chicken, 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.
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