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Dessert

Sweet-potato Pie

A baked pie with a sweet potato filling flavored with cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and sweetener.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Sweet-potato Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Mash the sweet potatoes or pass them through a ricer while hot.

  2. Add salt, then add sweetener, then add spices, then add melted butter, then add beaten eggs.

  3. Add enough milk to make a smooth batter that is not too thin.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake a single pie crust lightly.

  2. Pour the filling into the crust.

  3. Return the pie to the oven until the crust is thoroughly baked.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Sweet potato + cinnamontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together539 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet potato
Provides the bulk and body of the filling, along with its natural sweetness and moisture.
Eggs
Set when baked, giving the filling structure so it firms into a sliceable custard.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a molasses-like depth of flavor to the filling.
Milk
Thins the batter to a smooth consistency and adds moisture that helps the filling bake creamy.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing to a tender texture and flavor.

The step that matters

Add enough milk to make a smooth batter that is not too thin. Eggs set the filling as it bakes, so too much liquid can keep the pie loose and watery, while too little leaves it dense and stiff. Adjusting the milk gives a smooth, pourable batter that sets evenly.

Swap the sweet potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, milk, cinnamon, allspice, clove):

  1. Sweet potatothe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Arrowrootfits less well
  4. Mustardfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, milk, cinnamon, allspice, clove. 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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