Name: Club House Sandwiches
Ingredients: thin slices of brown or white bread; butter; thin slices of crisp fried bacon; thin slices of chicken; coarse sea salt; thin layer of cucumber pickle, sliced crosswise

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 ↓

Club House Sandwiches

Ingredients

thin slices of brown or white bread
butter
thin slices of crisp fried bacon
thin slices of chicken
coarse sea salt
thin layer of cucumber pickle, sliced crosswise

Directions

Prepare the toast

Toast the bread slices until golden.
Lightly butter one side of each slice.

Assemble

Layer bacon on one slice of buttered toast.
Add a slice of toast, then layer seasoned chicken on top.
Place another buttered toast slice on the chicken.
Add a thin layer of cucumber pickle.
Top with another slice of buttered toast.

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 + chickentop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,258 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,902 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Bread + cucumbertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together344 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Chicken + cucumbertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,037 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread: Provides the crisp, sturdy layers that hold the filling together.
Butter: Adds richness and flavour to the toast and helps keep the bread from soaking up moisture from the filling.
Bacon: Adds savoury, salty flavour and crisp texture to the sandwich.
Chicken: Forms the main protein filling, adding substance and mild savoury flavour.
Cucumber pickle: Adds acidity and a crisp, tangy contrast to the rich fillings.