Name: Sherry Cobbler
Ingredients: 2 glasses sherry; 1 heaping tablespoon powdered sugar; 3 small slices orange or pineapple; 6 raspberries or strawberries; cracked ice

Why it works: Sherry and orange work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 823 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Sherry Cobbler

Ingredients

Directions

In a large tumbler, combine sherry and powdered sugar.
Add orange or pineapple slices and raspberries or strawberries.
Fill the tumbler with cracked ice.
Insert a couple of straws and serve immediately.

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.

Sherry + orangetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together823 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sherry + sugartop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,141 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Sherry: Provides the wine base and main flavour of the drink.
Powdered sugar: Dissolves easily in the sherry to add sweetness.
Orange or pineapple: Adds fresh citrus or fruity aroma and a touch of acidity.
Raspberries or strawberries: Adds fruity flavour and aroma to the drink.