Why it works: Dates and fig work together. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 318 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓
Love Sandwiches
Ingredients
Directions
Cut fresh bread into thin heart shapes.
Spread a thin layer of butter on each piece.
Top with chopped dates, figs, and walnuts.
Press the pieces together neatly.
Arrange on a plate with green foliage and garnish with pimolas or olives.
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.
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Dates + figtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together318 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
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Fig + walnuttop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together373 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Walnut + olivetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,087 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Dates + walnuttop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together302 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the dates
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, fig, walnut, olive):
- Coconutfits better
- Pearfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, fig, walnut, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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