Name: Pickled Figs
Ingredients: 1 pound figs; hot vinegar; whole cloves; 1 stick cinnamon

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pickled Figs

Ingredients

1 pound figs
hot vinegar
whole cloves
1 stick cinnamon

Directions

Wash the figs.
Place them in a bowl and cover with hot vinegar.
Add a few whole cloves and a stick of cinnamon.
Cover the bowl and let it stand overnight.

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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Fig + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together614 recipes

Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).
Fig + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together404 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,386 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Fig + vinegartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together243 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

Figs: Provide the fruit that absorbs the spiced vinegar and becomes tender and sweet.
Hot vinegar: Acidity that preserves the figs and gives the pickled sharpness.
Whole cloves: Add warm, aromatic spice flavor that infuses into the figs.
Cinnamon: Adds sweet, woody aroma that infuses into the vinegar and figs.