Name: Chicken Sandwich
Ingredients: 2 cups chopped chicken; ½ cup walnuts; 3 tablespoons cucumber pickles, chopped fine; boiled salad dressing; buttered bread

Why it works: Walnut and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 380 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Chicken Sandwich

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

In a bowl, mix the chopped chicken, walnuts, cucumber pickles, and boiled salad dressing until smooth.

Assemble and serve

Spread the mixture between slices of buttered bread.
Cut into desired shapes 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.

Walnut + cucumbertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together380 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,258 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
Cucumber + breadtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together344 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Chicken + cucumbertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,037 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Chicken + walnuttop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together469 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken: Provides the bulk and protein that forms the body of the sandwich filling.
Walnuts: Add crunch and a nutty flavor that contrasts with the soft filling.
Cucumber pickles: Add acidity and a sharp tang that brightens the rich filling.
Boiled salad dressing: Binds the ingredients together and adds moisture and creaminess.