Name: Fig Filling for Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups figs, chopped; ½ cup sugar; ⅓ cup boiling water; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 1 tablespoon butter; a pinch of salt

Why it works: Fig and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 763 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Fig Filling for Cake

Ingredients

Directions

In a double boiler, combine figs, sugar, boiling water, lemon juice, butter, and salt.
Cook until the mixture reaches a spreadable consistency.

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.

Fig + lemontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together763 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Fig + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,042 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,241 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Figs: Provide the main fruit body and flavor, breaking down into a spreadable filling as they cook.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps thicken the filling as it cooks down.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the figs.
Butter: Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture in the finished filling.