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Dessert

Fig Cream Blocks

A chilled dessert made by pressing figs and flavored fondant into a block, then cutting into cubes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and fig match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 407 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Cream Blocks

Ingredients

Directions

Make the block

  1. Combine the fondant and figs in a bowl.

  2. Press the mixture into a small square box lined with waxed paper, about 2 inches deep.

  3. Let it stand in a cool place overnight.

Cut and finish

  1. Turn out the block and cut it into cubes.

  2. If sticky, toss the cubes lightly in granulated sugar that has been sifted through a fine-meshed sieve.

  3. Rinse the figs and dry them thoroughly with a towel.

  4. Discard the hardened stem and blossom end.

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.

  1. Orange + figtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together407 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. Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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

Fondant
Sugar that firms as it cools, binding the figs into a block that holds its shape when cut.
Figs
Provide the bulk, fruity flavor and chewy texture of the blocks.

The step that matters

Let it stand in a cool place overnight. As the fondant cools, its sugar firms up and the mixture sets into a block. Cutting too early can leave the cubes soft and misshapen.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Pearfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fig, sugar. 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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