Name: Cheese and Nut Sandwich
Ingredients: 1 can soft cheese; ½ cup chopped walnuts; 2 slices day-old bread

Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese and Nut Sandwich

Ingredients

1 can soft cheese
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 slices day-old bread

Directions

Mash the soft cheese in a bowl and stir in the chopped walnuts until well combined.
Spread the mixture between the slices of day-old bread.
Cut 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.

Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + walnuttop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together410 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Walnut + breadtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together714 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Soft cheese: Provides moisture and creamy body that binds the filling and spreads easily between bread.
Chopped walnuts: Adds crunch and a slightly bitter, nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft cheese.
Day-old bread: Slightly dried crumb holds the filling without going soggy as easily as fresh bread would.