Name: Cheese Dates
Ingredients: pimento cheese; cream; dates

Why it works: Cheese and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,655 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese Dates

Ingredients

pimento cheese
cream
dates

Directions

Soften the pimento cheese by mixing it with cream.
Wash and remove the pits from the dates.
Fill the cavity of each date with the cheese mixture.
Serve with a salad.

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.

Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,655 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + datestop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together276 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cheese + datestop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together13 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).