Name: A Club Sandwich
Ingredients: 1 slice brown bread; 1 slice bacon; 1 slice white meat (turkey or chicken); 1 slice ripe tomato; 1 leaf lettuce; mayonnaise; butter

Why it works: Tomato and lettuce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,655 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

A Club Sandwich

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the toast

Toast the brown bread until evenly golden and lightly crisp.
Butter one side of the toast.

Assemble

On the buttered side, layer the bacon.
Place the slice of turkey or chicken on top of the bacon.
Add a slice of tomato on one half.
Add a leaf of lettuce on the other half.
Spread a generous layer of mayonnaise over the toppings.
Top with the remaining piece of toast to complete the 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.

Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,655 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Bread + meattop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,924 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Bread + lettucetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together602 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Brown bread: Provides the sturdy structure that holds all the layers together.
Bacon: Adds savory fat and a crisp, salty contrast to the sandwich.
Turkey or chicken: Supplies the substantial protein that gives the sandwich its body.
Tomato: Adds juiciness and a bright acidity that balances the rich fillings.
Lettuce: Contributes cool, crisp texture and freshness between the richer layers.
Mayonnaise: Adds fat and creaminess that moistens the bread and binds the fillings.