Name: Fruit Sandwiches
Ingredients: French or milk bread; thick cream; sweetmeat; banana slices; pineapple slices; strawberries; maidenhair fern for garnish

Why it works: Banana and pineapple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 733 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Fruit Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Take slices of French or milk bread.
Spread a spoonful of thick cream and sweetmeat between the slices.
Add slices of banana or pineapple, or use strawberries.
Cut the sandwiches into dainty shapes.
Garnish with maidenhair fern.

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.

Banana + pineappletop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together733 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Milk + bananatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,470 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Milk + pineappletop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together885 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + bananatop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,180 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).