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Dessert

Fig Filling

A sweet filling made by cooking chopped figs with sugar and wine until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Fig Filling

Why it works: Fig and wine work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 195 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Filling

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine figs, sugar, and wine in a double boiler.

  2. Cook until thick, like jelly.

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.

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.

  1. Fig + winetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together195 recipes

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

  2. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together9,581 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Figs
Provide the main flavor and body of the filling as they break down during cooking.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it thicken into a spreadable texture as it cooks.
Wine
Adds acidity and aroma, and its liquid helps the figs soften and cook down.

The step that matters

Cook until thick, like jelly. Cooking in a double boiler heats gently, so the figs soften and the liquid reduces slowly without scorching. Stop when the mixture coats a spoon and holds its shape, since it thickens further as it cools.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, wine):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Applefits about as well
  3. Grapefits about as well
  4. Figthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, wine. 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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