Name: Sandwiches
Ingredients: Close-grained bread (at least 1 day old); Best butter; Pounded or finely-minced meat (e.g., wild duck, partridges, hare); Strong gelatinous extract from bones; Home-made potted ham, tongue, corned beef, or game; Chicken or turkey; Ravigote butter; Foie gras

Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Sandwiches

Ingredients

Close-grained bread (at least 1 day old)
Best butter
Pounded or finely-minced meat (e.g., wild duck, partridges, hare)
Strong gelatinous extract from bones
Home-made potted ham, tongue, corned beef, or game
Chicken or turkey
Ravigote butter
Foie gras

Directions

Cut the bread into thin slices, about ⅛ inch thick, using a sharp carving knife.
Spread a liberal amount of butter on each slice of bread.
Mix the minced meat with the gelatinous extract until it forms a paste.
Spread the meat mixture on the buttered bread.
For chicken or turkey sandwiches, cut into julienne strips and layer with an equal amount of ham or foie gras.
Use fancy butters to enhance flavor as desired.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Meat + chickentop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,449 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,095 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ham + chickentop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,497 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).