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Dessert

Fig Filling

A sweet filling made from chopped figs, raisins, sugar, and water, stewed until soft and smooth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Fig Filling

Why it works: Fig and raisin work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 737 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Filling

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Chop the figs and raisins.

  2. In a pot, combine the chopped figs, chopped raisins, sugar, and water.

  3. Stew the mixture until it is soft and smooth.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + raisintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

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

  2. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

  3. 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

Figs
Break down into a soft, smooth body and provide the main sweetness and fruity flavour.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and body to the filling as they soften in the liquid.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the stewed fruit a glossy, thick texture.

The step that matters

Stewing until soft and smooth. Fruit must cook long enough for its cell walls to break down, otherwise the filling stays chunky. Stirring and watching the pot helps prevent scorching on the bottom as the sugar and water concentrate.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figthe original
  3. Datesfits less well
  4. Applefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar. 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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