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Beef and Roasted Red Pepper Sandwiches

"This is my family's favorite sandwich! We like it served with a nice fresh Caesar salad. Don't be intimidated by the extra sharp provolone's smell - it's really awesome when melted into the sandwich!"

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Why it works: Beef and provolone cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 91 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

The recipe

4 Servings
Prep15 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (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.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Split the torpedo rolls and place them open-faced on a baking sheet.

  2. Bring a saucepan of water to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk in the dry au jus mix until dissolved, then season with garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm over low heat.

  3. Add the sliced roast beef to the au jus and warm gently for about 5 minutes until steaming hot, about 165°F (74°C). Do not let it boil hard.

  4. Lay the provolone slices over the bottom halves of the rolls. Bake for 5 minutes until the cheese melts.

  5. Top the melted cheese with the drained, sliced roasted red bell peppers, then pile on the warm beef. Close the sandwiches and serve with the au jus for dipping.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Beef + provolone cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together91 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Beef + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together18,971 recipes

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

  3. Garlic + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together27,044 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Beef + garlictop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together6,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Garlic + provolone cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together152 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, provolone cheese):

  1. Oreganoabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Celeryabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Rosemaryabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, provolone 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).