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Opera Dates

Dates stuffed with opera cream and set in a 33⅓° sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Opera Dates

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the seeds from the dates.

  2. Stuff each date with opera cream.

Make the syrup and set

  1. Let the stuffed dates set for 2 hours.

  2. Prepare a 33⅓° sugar syrup and pour it over the dates while hot.

  3. Let the dates set for 5 hours, then drain off excess syrup.

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.

  1. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Dates + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together985 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Dates + syruptop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together49 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Dates
Provide the sweet, soft base that holds the filling and absorbs the syrup.
Opera cream
Forms the soft, rich filling inside each date.
33⅓° crystal (sugar syrup)
Coats the dates with sugar that sweetens them and sets into a glossy, firm shell as it cools.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot syrup over the dates. Hot syrup penetrates the dates and then crystallises as it cools, which creates the coating. If the syrup is allowed to cool before pouring, it will not soak in or set evenly, so the dates end up with a thin, uneven sugar layer.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, syrup):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, syrup. 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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