Name: Sandwich Filling
Ingredients: 1 small can potted veal; 4 cups grated cheese; 4 cups chopped walnuts; 4 cups chopped celery; mayonnaise dressing to taste

Why it works: Walnut and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 852 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Sandwich Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Combine the potted veal, grated cheese, chopped walnuts, and chopped celery in a large bowl.
Mix in mayonnaise dressing until well combined.

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.

Walnut + celerytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together852 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Cheese + walnuttop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together410 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Veal + celerytop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,336 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Veal + walnuttop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together273 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Cheese + celerytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together647 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Potted veal: Provides the main savoury meat flavour and body of the filling.
Grated cheese: Adds richness and fat, helping bind the filling and add savoury flavour.
Chopped walnuts: Adds crunch and a toasty, slightly bitter note that contrasts the soft filling.
Chopped celery: Adds crisp texture and fresh, mildly vegetal flavour.
Mayonnaise dressing: Adds moisture and fat, binding the ingredients into a spreadable filling.