Why it works: Dates and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 218 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Date Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Combine dates, baking soda, and boiling water in a bowl.
Mix well and let cool slightly.
Add brown sugar, beaten egg, butter, and vanilla; mix until combined.
Gradually add flour sifted with salt until a batter forms.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a greased baking pan.
Bake in a slow oven at 325°F (165°C) for 1 hour.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Dates + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together218 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Dates
- Provide moisture and natural sweetness, and make up most of the bread's body.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic dates and hot water to help the bread rise and open its crumb.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
- Flour
- Builds the structure that holds the batter together as it bakes.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and some caramel flavor to the crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the finished crumb.
The step that matters
Let the date mixture cool slightly before adding the egg. Baking soda is activated by the hot water and reacts quickly. If the mixture is still very hot when the beaten egg goes in, the egg can scramble and the batter may lose its even texture, so cooling briefly helps it stay smooth.
Swap the dates
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, vanilla, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, vanilla, flour. 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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