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Dessert

Smothered Figs

A baked dessert of stewed figs topped with a sweet custard and whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 324 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Smothered Figs

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the figs

  1. Wash the figs and cut them into small pieces.

  2. Combine the figs, water, and lemon rind in a pan and stew for 30 minutes.

  3. Remove the lemon rind and pour the mixture into a greased pie dish.

Make the custard

  1. Boil the milk and brown sugar together in another pot.

  2. Mix the cornflour with a little cold milk, then add it to the boiling milk and simmer for 5 minutes.

  3. Separate the yolks from the eggs, beat them, and stir them into the cornflour mixture, ensuring it does not boil.

  4. Add a few drops of vanilla essence and pour this mixture over the figs.

Bake and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, then stir in the castor sugar.

  2. Pile the egg white mixture over the figs and bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven until firm.

  3. Remove from the oven, sprinkle colored sugar on top, and serve hot or cold.

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. Fig + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together324 recipes

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

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  5. Fig + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and whites form the meringue topping that sets and browns.
Cornflour
Starch thickens the milk mixture into a smooth custard that holds its shape.
Cooking figs
Provide the fruit base, softened by stewing, with body and sweetness.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding richness and softness.
Castor sugar
Stabilises the beaten egg whites and sweetens the meringue topping.

The step that matters

Keep the custard from boiling after the eggs are added. Once egg yolks are stirred in, boiling can curdle them and make the custard grainy. Heating gently keeps it smooth and thick.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fig, milk, sugar, egg, vanilla, butter):

  1. Peachfits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Bananafits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fig, milk, sugar, egg, vanilla, butter. 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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