Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Sweet Potato Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Boil sweet potatoes until tender, then cool completely before grating.
Cream butter and sugar together in a bowl.
Gradually add egg yolks, lemon rind, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sweet milk to the mixture.
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.
Grease a pudding dish, line it with the pie crust, and pour in the custard mixture.
For a richer flavor, add a splash of brandy to the sweet potatoes before mixing.
Serve cold, with or without sauce.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Sweet potato + cinnamontop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together539 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Sweet potato + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together414 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sweet potato, butter, sugar, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sweet potato, butter, sugar, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More sweet potato pudding recipes
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