Why it works: Avocado and prosciutto work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and 17 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓
The recipe
1 sandwichIngredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Toast the pumpernickel slices in a toaster or under a broiler until golden, then let them cool for 2 minutes.
Scoop the avocado flesh into a small bowl, add the rinsed and drained garbanzo beans and a pinch of salt, and mash together with a fork until mostly smooth.
Spread the avocado and bean mixture evenly over one side of each toasted slice.
Layer the Havarti cheese on one slice, then the prosciutto, folding or tearing it to fit.
Add the tomato slices over the prosciutto and top with the alfalfa sprouts.
Close the sandwich with the second slice of bread, press gently, and cut diagonally before serving.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Avocado + prosciuttotop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Beans + tomatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,711 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Avocado + tomatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,385 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Avocado + alfalfatop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together24 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Bread + cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the alfalfa
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (avocado, bread, beans, prosciutto, tomato, cheese):
- Corianderbetter flavor fit
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- Cuminbetter flavor fit
- Alfalfathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against avocado, bread, beans, prosciutto, tomato, cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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