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Fig and Nut Cake

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and dates work together. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 318 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

Fig and Nut Cake

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Layer ground figs, grated nuts, halved dates, and grated coconut in a mold until desired thickness is reached, finishing with coconut.

  2. Decorate with crystallized cherries and nut meats.

  3. Grate potatoes and drain on a sieve.

  4. In a bowl, mix grated potato, cream, sugar, egg yolk, beaten egg white, and nutmeg or vanilla extract.

  5. Add jelly powder to the mixture and set in a cold place.

  6. Once set, turn out of the mold and serve with cream.

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. Fig + datestop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together318 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Fig + coconuttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Dates + coconuttop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together76 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

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

  5. Nuts + coconuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together142 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fig, nuts, dates, coconut, meat, cream, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Lettucefits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fig, nuts, dates, coconut, meat, cream, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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