Name: Cider Panada
Ingredients: 1 slice of nice toast; ½ cup water; ¼ teaspoon nutmeg; 2 teaspoons sugar; 4 tablespoons cider

Why it works: Nutmeg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 23,364 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Cider Panada

Ingredients

Directions

Pour ½ cup water over a slice of nice toast.
Sprinkle lightly with ¼ teaspoon nutmeg and 2 teaspoons sugar.
Add 4 tablespoons cider on top.

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.

Nutmeg + sugartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together23,364 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Nutmeg + cidertop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together884 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Sugar + cidertop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,308 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Nutmeg and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,364 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

Nice toast: Provides the bread base that soaks up the liquid and gives the pudding its body.
Cider: Adds moisture and a fruity acidity that brightens the flavour.
Sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the cider's acidity.
Nutmeg: Adds a warm, spiced aroma.