Name: Pastry Sandwiches
Ingredients: Puff paste; Jam of any kind (apricot, greengage, or other preserve); 1 egg white; Sifted sugar

Why it works: Apricot and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,630 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Pastry Sandwiches

Oven, in the book's wordsA rather quick oven

Ingredients

Puff paste
Jam of any kind (apricot, greengage, or other preserve)
1 egg white
Sifted sugar

Directions

The book says “a rather quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Roll out the puff paste thinly.
Place half of the paste on a baking sheet and spread the jam evenly over it.
Cover with another layer of thin paste, pressing the edges together.
Mark the surface with a knife to indicate where to cut after baking.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.
Shortly before done, remove from the oven, brush with egg white, sprinkle with sifted sugar, and return to the oven to color.
Once cooled, cut into strips, stack them in a pyramid on a dish, and serve.

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.

Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,630 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Apricot + eggtop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,712 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).