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Dessert

Sliced Figs

Sliced figs are soaked in sugar overnight and simmered with cloves, allspice, and water until thickened.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Sliced Figs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine sugar and figs in a bowl and let sit overnight.

Cook

  1. In a pot, add cloves, allspice, and a little water.

  2. Cook the mixture slowly over low heat for about 2 hours or until thickened.

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.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Fig + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Fig + allspicetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Sugar + figtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + allspicetop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,938 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Sweetens the figs and draws out their juices to form a syrup.
Figs
Provide the main body, moisture and fruity flavour of the preserve.
Whole allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour as the mixture simmers.
Whole cloves
Contribute a strong, warm aroma that infuses the syrup during cooking.

The step that matters

Cook slowly over low heat until thickened. Low, gentle heat lets the figs soften and the syrup reduce evenly without scorching on the bottom of the pot. Sugar can burn quickly at high heat, so patience prevents bitter flavour and sticking.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Orangefits about as well
  3. Figthe original
  4. Quincefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, clove, allspice. 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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