Why it works: Sweet potato and hazelnut share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 9 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
4 cupsIngredients
Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Place the cubed sweet potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, and add a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until a knife slides in easily.
While the potatoes cook, pour the apple cider into a small saucepan and simmer over medium heat for about 3 minutes, until reduced by about half.
Drain the sweet potatoes well and return them to the warm pot over low heat for 1 minute to let excess moisture evaporate.
Mash the sweet potatoes until smooth, then stir in the heavy cream and sour cream until fully combined.
Stir in the reduced apple cider and the ground toasted hazelnuts until evenly distributed throughout the mash.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, stir well, and serve warm.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Sweet potato + hazelnuttop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Apple + cidertop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,042 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Hazelnut + appletop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together76 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Sweet potato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sweet potato + appletop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together133 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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