Name: Cheese Paste for Sandwiches
Ingredients: 1 cup tomato ketchup; 1 teaspoon onion juice; 2 tablespoons chopped pecans; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 ounces cheese; 1 teaspoon paprika; thinly sliced bread

Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese Paste for Sandwiches

about 24 ordinary sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Make the paste

In a bowl, cream the cheese until smooth.
Add tomato ketchup, onion juice, chopped pecans, salt, and paprika; mix well.

Assemble

Spread the mixture between slices of thinly cut bread.
This recipe makes enough paste for about 24 ordinary sandwiches.

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.

Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Tomato + cheesetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,896 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pecans + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together67 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

Cheese: Provides richness and a creamy body that binds the paste together.
Tomato ketchup: Adds sweetness, acidity and moisture to the paste.
Chopped pecans: Add crunch and a nutty flavor against the soft paste.

Swap the pecans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, ketchup, onion, cheese, bread):

Beansfits better
Peasfits better
Walnutfits better
Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, ketchup, onion, cheese, 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.