Name: Fig Sundae
Ingredients: 1 disher ice cream; chopped figs; fig syrup

Why it works: Cream and syrup are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,964 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Fig Sundae

Ingredients

1 disher ice cream
chopped figs
fig syrup

Directions

Scoop a dish of ice cream into a bowl.
Top with chopped figs.
Drizzle a little fig syrup over the figs.

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.

Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,964 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Fig + syruptop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together114 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cream + figtop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together523 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Ice cream: Provides cold, creamy body that the warm-sweet figs and syrup contrast against.
Chopped figs: Add soft texture and natural fruit sweetness to the dish.
Fig syrup: Adds concentrated sweetness and fig flavour that soaks slightly into the ice cream.