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 ↓
Cucumbers
Ingredients
Directions
If cucumbers are seedy, slice them; if young, leave whole.
Put cucumbers in a saucepan with salt, vinegar, and onion.
Simmer until nearly done and the liquid is reduced.
Alternatively, fry cucumbers in fresh butter and add strong cullis.
Serve cucumbers with roasted mutton or as an entrée with fried bread around them.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
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Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the cucumber
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, onion, butter, bread):
- Mustardfits better
- Shallotfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
- Cucumberthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, onion, butter, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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