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Dessert

Figs Simplest

A simple dessert of sliced figs served with sugar and cream, optionally garnished with maraschino cherries or fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and grape match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 323 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Figs Simplest

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and slice the figs.

  2. Serve with sugar and cream.

Alternative presentation

  1. Alternatively, cut 2 figs in half and arrange the halves on a plate in the shape of a four-leaf clover.

  2. Add sugar and place a maraschino cherry in each fig half.

  3. You can substitute strawberries or seeded grapes for the cherries.

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 + grapetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together323 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  3. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + grapetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,490 recipes

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

  5. Fig + creamtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together523 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Figs
Provide the soft, sweet fruit that forms the body of the dish.
Sugar
Sweetens the figs and draws out their juices as it dissolves.
Cream
Adds richness and fat that balances the sweetness of the fruit.

Swap the grape

The recipe marks grape as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fig, sugar, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Strawberryfits better
  4. Grapethe original

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

“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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