Why it works: Bread and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Indian Sandwiches
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the bread into round slices using a sharp cutter.
Fry the bread slices until golden brown.
In a bowl, mix the minced chicken with an equal amount of ham or tongue.
Stir in the thick white sauce, curry powder, and lemon juice until well combined.
Warm the mixture in a saucepan until heated through.
Place a spoonful of the mixture between every two slices of toast.
Arrange the sandwiches on a folded napkin or cut paper and serve hot.
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.
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Bread + hamtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Chicken + hamtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,497 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Bread + chickentop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,258 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
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Chicken + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,092 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Bread + lemontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,445 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, chicken, ham, sauce):
- Pumpkinfits about as well
- Coconutfits about as well
- Grapefits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, chicken, ham, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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