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Dessert

Fig Candy

A sweet confection made from figs, sugar, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Fig Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fig candy

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, milk, and butter to make a syrup.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Add the finely chopped figs and beat until creamy.

  4. Pour the mixture into a buttered pan to cool.

Finish and serve

  1. Once cooled, cut into squares.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Milk + figtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Butter + figtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,042 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + figtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, the body that sets the candy firm.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softness, giving the candy a smoother, less brittle texture.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender, creamy mouthfeel and a rich flavor.
Figs
Supply the main flavor and natural sweetness, and their pulp helps thicken the mixture.

The step that matters

Beating the figs into the boiled syrup. Sugar syrup that is boiled and then cooled becomes firm as it sets. Figs added to hot syrup must be chopped very fine and beaten smooth so the mixture stays creamy rather than grainy or lumpy.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figthe original
  3. Peachfits about as well
  4. Coconutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, butter. 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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