Name: Spiced Figs
Ingredients: 1 quart of vinegar; 3 pounds of sugar; 9 pounds of figs; 2 tablespoons of mixed spices (cloves, cinnamon, and a little mace)

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 ↓

Spiced Figs

Ingredients

1 quart of vinegar
3 pounds of sugar
9 pounds of figs
2 tablespoons of mixed spices (cloves, cinnamon, and a little mace)

Directions

In a large pot, combine the vinegar, sugar, and mixed spices.
Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat.
Add the figs and cook until they are tender.

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).
Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,400 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Figs: Provide the main body and texture of the preserve as they soften during cooking.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps thicken the syrup as it cooks down.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the figs.
Mixed spices: Contribute warm aroma and flavour to the syrup and figs.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, fig, clove, cinnamon):

Allspicefits better
Nutmegfits better
Cardamomfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, fig, clove, cinnamon. 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.