Why it works: Dates and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 218 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Food for the Gods
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine sugar, egg yolks, cracker crumbs, chopped walnuts, chopped dates, baking powder, salt, and vanilla.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and gently fold them into the mixture.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a flat buttered pan.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Serve with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.
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.
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Dates + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together218 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Walnut + datestop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together302 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Walnut + vanillatop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,730 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Sugar + datestop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together985 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the batter and give it an airy lift.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the batter together as it sets.
- Cracker crumbs
- Provide body and structure, holding the batter together in place of flour.
- Dates
- Add moisture and natural sweetness, becoming chewy as they bake.
- English walnuts
- Add crunch and a toasty, nutty flavor that contrasts with the soft batter.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the batter rise and lighten.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that gives the batter its lift. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring vigorously deflates the foam and leaves a dense, flat result.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, dates, vanilla):
- Almondfits better
- Pecansfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, dates, vanilla. 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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