Why it works: Orange and sherry 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-cobler
Ingredients
Directions
Sprinkle the sugar over the orange slices in the tumbler.
Add the shaved ice on top.
Pour the sherry over the ice.
Drink as the ice melts, using a straw if preferred.
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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Orange + sherrytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together823 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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 main alcoholic flavour and liquid base of the drink.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the drink and helps draw flavour from the orange slices.
- Orange slices
- Add fresh citrus aroma, flavour and a touch of acidity.
- Shaved ice
- Chills the drink and slowly melts to dilute it as it is sipped.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, sherry):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Pineapplefits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, sherry. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
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