Name: Fig Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup chopped figs; 1 cup broken walnuts; 1 cup sugar; 1 tablespoon flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 2 eggs; vanilla extract to taste

Why it works: Fig and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 324 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

Make the batter

In a bowl, mix together the chopped figs, broken walnuts, sugar, flour, and baking powder.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until fluffy.
Combine the egg mixture with the fig mixture and add vanilla extract to taste.

Bake

Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish and bake for 20 minutes.

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 + vanillatop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together324 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Fig + walnuttop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together373 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Walnut + vanillatop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,730 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Walnut + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs: Beaten eggs add structure and help bind the pudding as it sets.
Flour: Provides a small amount of structure so the pudding holds together.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking, helping the pudding rise and turn light.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the pudding brown slightly as it bakes.
Chopped figs: Add moisture, sweetness and the main fruit flavour to the pudding.