Name: Date Salad
Ingredients: 10 cents' worth of dates, chopped; 10 cents' worth of figs, chopped; 10 cents' worth of mixed nuts, chopped; mayonnaise dressing

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 ↓

Date Salad

Ingredients

10 cents' worth of dates, chopped
10 cents' worth of figs, chopped
10 cents' worth of mixed nuts, chopped
mayonnaise dressing

Directions

Chop the dates, figs, and mixed nuts.
Combine the chopped ingredients in a bowl.
Serve with mayonnaise dressing.

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.

Dates + figtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together318 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Fig + mixed nutstop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Dates + mixed nutstop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Dates: Add natural sweetness and a soft, chewy texture to the salad.
Figs: Add sweetness and a soft, chewy texture to the salad.
Mixed nuts: Add crunch and a toasty, rich flavor that contrasts with the soft fruit.
Mayonnaise dressing: Adds fat and creaminess that binds and moistens the chopped ingredients.