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Dessert

Fruit Filling

A sweet fruit filling made with citron, raisins, almonds, figs, sugar, and egg white.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Fruit Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Boil the citron, raisins, almonds, and figs in sugar dissolved in water for 3 minutes.

  2. Beat the egg white to stiff peaks.

  3. Mix the beaten egg white thoroughly with the boiled ingredients.

Assemble

  1. Spread the filling between layers of cake while hot.

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. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Almond + figtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together519 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Raisin + figtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

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

  4. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

  5. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Citron
Adds chewy texture and sweet, candied fruit flavor to the filling.
Raisins
Add chewiness and concentrated sweetness as they soften in the syrup.
Almonds
Add a nutty flavor and a firm, slightly crunchy texture to the filling.
Figs
Add soft body, sweetness, and a jam-like texture to the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, dissolved in water, softens and syrups the fruit as it boils.
Egg white
Whipped to stiff peaks, it adds air and lightness and helps bind the filling.

The step that matters

Mixing in the beaten egg white. Beaten whites hold air in a foam that deflates when overmixed or when stirred too vigorously. Fold it in gently and thoroughly so the filling stays light and evenly combined.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, almond, sugar, egg):

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Figthe original
  3. Datesfits less well
  4. Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, almond, sugar, egg. 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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