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Sandwiches

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Beetroot and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 484 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cut the bread into even slices.

  2. Butter one side of each slice.

  3. Layer fish or eggs on the buttered side, then cover with another slice of bread, buttered side down.

  4. For added flavor, add a slice of boiled beetroot on the fish.

  5. Cut the sandwich into quarters and garnish with clean, dry parsley.

  6. For meat sandwiches, spread dripping on the bread, layer on the meat, and add cress salad if desired.

  7. Season meat sandwiches with mustard and salt, and fish or egg sandwiches with pepper and salt.

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.

  1. Beetroot + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together484 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Beetroot + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together745 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  5. Mustard + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

Swap the beetroot

The recipe marks beetroot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, fish, beef, mustard, pepper, parsley):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Beetrootthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, fish, beef, mustard, pepper, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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