Name: Chicken Sandwiches
Ingredients: cold, cooked chicken; tongue; finely chopped, blanched almonds; seasoning; lemon juice; buttered bread

Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Chop the cold, cooked chicken and tongue very fine.
Add one-fourth the quantity of finely chopped, blanched almonds, a little seasoning, and lemon juice.
Spread the mixture on thin slices of buttered bread.

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.

Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,655 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,258 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
Chicken + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,092 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Almond + breadtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together858 recipes

Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).
Chicken + almondtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together838 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold, cooked chicken: Forms the main filling, giving the sandwich its bulk and savoury flavour.
Tongue: Adds richness and a meaty texture to the chicken filling.
Blanched almonds: Add a soft, mild crunch and nutty flavour to the filling.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the rich meats and balances the flavour.
Buttered bread: Provides the thin base that holds the filling and adds fat and softness.