Why it works: Fig and apple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 238 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Fig Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the figs into thin slices and chop them finely.
Chop the suet and apples finely.
Sift the stale bread through a wire sieve.
In a bowl, mix the flour, figs, suet, apples, bread, ginger, nutmeg, salt, baking powder, and sugar thoroughly.
Beat the egg and mix it with the milk.
Stir the egg and milk mixture into the dry ingredients until well combined.
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 + appletop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together238 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,324 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Fig + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together510 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apple + gingertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,424 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fig, apple, bread, nutmeg, flour, sugar, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Clovefits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fig, apple, bread, nutmeg, flour, sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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