Name: Fig Salad
Ingredients: Figs; Shredded pineapple; Lettuce leaves; Mayonnaise; Chopped nuts

Why it works: Fig and pineapple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 100 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Fig Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Peel and slice the figs.
Mix the sliced figs with shredded pineapple.
Serve the mixture on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise.
Alternatively, peel the figs, fill them with chopped nuts, and cover with mayonnaise.

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.

Fig + pineappletop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together100 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Fig + lettucetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together26 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Pineapple + lettucetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together271 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Lettuce + nutstop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together174 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Fig + nutstop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together154 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).