Name: Rusk Panada
Ingredients: 2 double baked rusk; ½ pint boiling water; 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar; 4 tablespoons sherry wine

Why it works: Sugar and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,141 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Rusk Panada

Ingredients

2 double baked rusk
½ pint boiling water
1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
4 tablespoons sherry wine

Directions

Break the rusk into pieces about 1 inch in size and place them in a bowl.
Pour the boiling water over the rusk pieces.
Stir in the sugar and sherry wine until well combined.

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.

Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,141 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together9,581 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sherry + winetop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together0 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Double baked rusk: Provides the bulk and body, softening into a porridge-like texture as it absorbs liquid.
Boiling water: Softens the rusk and turns it into a moist, spoonable mass.
White granulated sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the dry, plain flavour of the rusk.
Sherry wine: Adds aroma and a mild acidity and depth of flavour.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.