Name: Grape Fruit with Figs
Ingredients: 1 large grapefruit; washed figs; powdered sugar; 1 teaspoon sherry wine (optional)

Why it works: Fig and sherry work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Grape Fruit with Figs

Ingredients

1 large grapefruit
washed figs
powdered sugar
1 teaspoon sherry wine (optional)

Directions

Prepare the grapefruit

Chill the grapefruit.
Cut the grapefruit in half and remove the white, bitter center.
Loosen each section of pulp from the shell with a small sharp knife.

Assemble and serve

Sprinkle the pulp thickly with shredded figs.
Dredge with powdered sugar and add sherry wine if desired.
Serve at luncheon or omit wine and serve at breakfast.

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 + sherrytop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Grapefruit + figtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Fig + winetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together195 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Grapefruit + sherrytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together37 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,241 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Grapefruit: Provides the juicy, tart pulp that forms the base of the dish.
Figs: Add natural sweetness and a soft, chewy texture against the citrus.
Powdered sugar: Dissolves slightly into the grapefruit juice, adding sweetness and balancing the tartness.