Name: Jelly and Nut Sandwiches
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons fruit jelly; 6 tablespoons finely chopped pecans; walnuts or shellbarks; buttered white bread

Why it works: Pecans and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 634 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Jelly and Nut Sandwiches

Ingredients

4 tablespoons fruit jelly
6 tablespoons finely chopped pecans
walnuts or shellbarks
buttered white bread

Directions

In a bowl, mix 4 tablespoons of fruit jelly with 6 tablespoons of finely chopped nuts.
Spread the mixture between slices of buttered white bread.
Use jelly made from quinces, crab-apples, apples, or peaches for best results.

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.

Pecans + walnuttop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together634 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Pecans + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together67 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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

Fruit jelly: Adds sweetness and moisture that binds the nut filling and keeps the sandwich from drying out.
Pecans: Add crunch and a rich, nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft jelly.