Why it works: Mango and plum share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35 recipes. Both carry damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Bacon Wrapped Plums
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Mix the chutney, mustard, and cayenne, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.
Make a small slit in each dried plum and stuff with a little of the chutney mixture.
Wrap and bake
Wrap each plum with a bacon strip and secure with a toothpick. Place the wrapped plums on an oiled baking sheet.
Bake for 10–12 minutes, turning them after 5 minutes, until the bacon is crisp.
Toast and serve
Meanwhile, toast the bread. Remove the crusts, and using a 2‑inch cookie cutter, cut out 12 rounds.
Butter the toast rounds and top each one with a bacon‑wrapped plum. Sprinkle each with a little cayenne pepper and serve warm.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Mango | 1 cup diced (165g) | 99 |
| Bacon | 1 slice cooked (8g) | 43 |
| Plum | 1 medium (66g) | 30 |
| Chili | 1 tsp (2.7g) | 8 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Mustard | 1 tsp (5g) yellow | 3 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Prune | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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.
-
Mango + plumtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together35 recipes
Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Mango + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together471 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Plum + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,052 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dried plums (prunes)
- Provide the sweet, soft filling that contrasts with the salty bacon and spice.
- Bacon
- Wraps the plums and renders fat that crisps the outside while the fruit softens.
- Mango chutney
- Adds sweetness and tang to the stuffing, balancing the richness of the bacon.
- Dry mustard
- Adds sharp, pungent heat that cuts through the sweetness and fat.
- White sandwich bread
- Forms a soft, buttered base that holds each bacon-wrapped plum.
The step that matters
Baking until the bacon is crisp. Bacon fat must render and the surface must brown, which needs enough oven heat and turning. Underbaked bacon stays flabby and greasy, while overbaking can dry the prunes.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mango, plum, pepper, bread, butter):
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Potatofits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mango, plum, pepper, bread, butter. 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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