Name: Imperial Sandwiches
Ingredients: thin bread; butter; anchovy paste; cooked chicken, shredded; gherkin, sliced

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 ↓

Imperial Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

Assemble

Spread a layer of butter on thin slices of bread.
Add a layer of anchovy paste on top of the butter.
Place alternating strips of shredded chicken and sliced gherkin on the anchovy layer.
Top with another slice of bread to form a sandwich.

Serve

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,260 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).
Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,697 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Bread + chickentop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,258 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,902 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Thin bread: Forms the structure that holds the layered filling together.
Butter: Adds fat and moisture, and creates a barrier that keeps the bread from soaking up the other fillings.
Anchovy paste: Adds a concentrated salty, savoury flavour that seasons the sandwich.
Cooked chicken, shredded: Provides the main protein and a tender, meaty texture.
Gherkin, sliced: Adds acidity and a crisp, tangy bite that balances the rich fillings.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.