Name: Nut Sandwiches
Ingredients: equal quantities of pecan meats; sour apples; buttered bread; mayonnaise

Why it works: Apple and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,790 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Nut Sandwiches

Ingredients

equal quantities of pecan meats
sour apples
buttered bread
mayonnaise

Directions

Chop equal quantities of pecan meats and sour apples.
Spread the mixture between two slices of thin, buttered bread.
Spread lightly with mayonnaise.

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.

Apple + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,790 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,924 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Meat + appletop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together787 recipes

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