Why it works: Fig and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 324 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Figs As a Dessert
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the dried figs in water overnight.
Simmer the soaked figs slowly until plump.
Drain the figs and arrange them in a serving dish.
Serve with whipped cream flavored and sweetened with vanilla or sherry.
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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Fig + vanillatop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together324 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Fig + creamtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together523 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,301 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the fig
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, vanilla):
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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