Why it works: Sweet potato and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 539 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the filling
In a large bowl, mix the hot mashed sweet potato with the beaten eggs.
Add the white sugar, rich sweet milk, and creamed butter, and mix thoroughly.
Season the mixture with cinnamon and sherry or brandy to taste.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into the lower pastry and bake until set.
Serve with a garnish of peach preserves or a spoonful of whipped cream.
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.
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Sweet potato + cinnamontop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together539 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + peachtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together625 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sweet potato + peachtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together25 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hot mashed sweet potato
- Provides the main body, moisture and natural sweetness of the filling.
- Eggs
- Bind the filling and set as it bakes, giving the pie its firm texture.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the filling taste rich and balanced.
- Rich sweet milk
- Adds moisture and creaminess, and helps the filling set smoothly.
- Creamed butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.
The step that matters
Bake until set. The beaten eggs are what firm the filling as it bakes. Underbaking leaves a loose, wet center, while the pie should be baked until the custard-like filling is set throughout.
Swap the sweet potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk, butter, cinnamon, sherry, peach):
- Sweet potatothe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatofits less well
- Arrowrootfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk, butter, cinnamon, sherry, peach. 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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