Name: Mock Crab Sandwiches
Ingredients: 1 cup grated cheese; 4 tablespoons creamed butter; ½ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon paprika; ½ teaspoon mustard; 1 teaspoon anchovy paste; 1 teaspoon vinegar; 2 tablespoons chopped olives; White bread

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Mock Crab Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the grated cheese, creamed butter, salt, paprika, mustard, anchovy paste, vinegar, and chopped olives.
Mix until well combined.
Spread the mixture between slices of white 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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,950 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, butter, anchovy, vinegar, olive, bread):

Tomatofits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well
Mustardthe original
Onionfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, butter, anchovy, vinegar, olive, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.