Why it works: Fig and ham work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and 7 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat, peanut, tree nuts, fish, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Remove seeds from the bell pepper and chop it finely. Simmer the chopped pepper in 1 tablespoon of butter for 10 minutes, then add coarse sea salt and cool.
Mix chopped dates with lemon peel and clove or cinnamon.
Thinly slice corned beef and spread with mustard.
Slice tongue and spread with mustard.
Spread grated horseradish on buttered bread.
Make a paste with cream cheese and cream, then add chopped nuts.
Chop prunes and mix with half the quantity of English walnuts, seasoning with lemon juice and powdered sugar.
Mix minced tongue with hard-boiled egg and mustard.
Make a paste with sardines and lemon juice.
Pick shrimp finely and season with lemon juice.
Mix minced hard-boiled eggs with one sardine for every three eggs, seasoning with lemon.
Chop watercress finely and season with salt and pepper.
Mix minced hard-boiled eggs with grated cheese and season with mustard.
Combine finely cut celery with mayonnaise.
Mix cream cheese with chopped olives.
Combine equal parts minced ham and celery with mayonnaise.
Mix ham with chopped pickles and celery.
Combine equal parts grated Swiss cheese and chopped English walnuts with mayonnaise.
Chop olives finely and mix with mayonnaise.
Mash peanuts to a paste with mayonnaise.
Mix lobster meat with mayonnaise.
Combine canned salmon with finely chopped hard-boiled eggs.
Chop figs and nuts finely.
Chop cold chicken and cold cooked oysters finely.
Chop cold chicken and mix with one-fourth the quantity of blanched almonds to a paste with cream.
Mix cream cheese with lettuce leaves and French dressing.
Slice hard-boiled eggs and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.
Mix cold roast chicken with finely-cut celery and mayonnaise.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Fig + hamtop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together7 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
-
Mustard + horseradishtop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,813 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Dates + figtop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together318 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
-
Pepper + clovetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together13,144 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mayonnaise
- Binds the chopped fillings into a moist, spreadable mixture.
- Cream cheese
- Adds creamy body and richness, forming a paste with cream or other fillings.
- Hard-boiled egg
- Provides a soft, crumbly texture and mild richness to the fillings.
- Butter
- Adds fat and gentle richness when simmering the bell pepper.
The step that matters
Simmer the chopped pepper in butter. Simmering softens the pepper and drives off excess moisture, so the filling stays spreadable rather than watery and the sandwich does not turn soggy.
Flavor stand-ins for the dates
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, lemon, clove, beef, mustard, horseradish):
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Orangebetter flavor fit
- Mangobetter flavor fit
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, lemon, clove, beef, mustard, horseradish. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.