Name: Grape Fruit
Ingredients: ripe grapefruit; sugar; sherry (optional); angelica for decoration

Why it works: Grapefruit and sherry work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 37 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Grape Fruit

Ingredients

ripe grapefruit
sugar
sherry (optional)
angelica for decoration

Directions

Select ripe grapefruit and wipe them carefully.
Cut the grapefruit in half and remove the seeds and core.
Loosen the fruit from the skin and cut it into small pieces, keeping them in the halved skin.
Drain the syrup, sweeten it to taste, and add sherry if desired.
Pour the syrup over the fruit and serve on a glass dish.
Decorate with angelica and keep on ice until ready to serve.

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.

Grapefruit + sherrytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together37 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Sherry + angelicatop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together54 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Grapefruit + angelicatop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1 recipe

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,141 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Grapefruit + sugartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together309 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).