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Frozen Cheese Balls with Figs

Cheese balls chilled for four hours, served with figs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and cream cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,087 recipes. Both carry gamma-decalactone, which smells peach, creamy. The science ↓

Frozen Cheese Balls with Figs

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cheese balls

  1. Mash two good sized cream cheeses.

  2. Beat them with half a cup of whipped cream until smooth.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, or sweeten with sugar.

  4. Put the mixture into a pail or mould in small balls.

Set and serve

  1. Bury the balls in a keg and salt for four hours.

  2. Serve with a pre-served fig placed on top of the round ball, or shape to suit.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

156Calories
2 gProtein
15 gFat
4 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cream Cheese1 oz (28g)99
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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. See the original page.

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. Cream + cream cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,087 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  2. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Cream cheese + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,195 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Cream cheese
Forms the main body and firm, rich structure of the balls.
Whipped cream
Adds moisture and softness, making the cheese smoother and lighter to shape.

The step that matters

Beat the cream cheese with the cream until smooth. Cream cheese that is cold or not fully blended keeps lumps. Softened cheese beaten gradually with the cream becomes an even mixture that holds its shape cleanly.

“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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