Name: Mashed Sweet Potato Recipe with Maple Pecan Praline Topping
Ingredients: 4-5 large sweet potatoes; 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter; 1/4 cup honey; 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; 1/2 cup apple juice or cider, warmed; salt and freshly ground pepper to taste; 3/4 cup pecan, toasted and chopped; 4 large medjool dates, seeds removed; 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Mashed Sweet Potato Recipe with Maple Pecan Praline Topping

Ingredients

4-5 large sweet potatoes
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup apple juice or cider, warmed
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3/4 cup pecan, toasted and chopped
4 large medjool dates, seeds removed
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

578Calories

6 gProtein

14 gFat

116 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple Juice	1 medium (182g)	95
Date	1 date (24g) medjool	66
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Maple Syrup	1 tbsp (20ml)	52
Pecan	1 half (4g)	20
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Cider	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By thevintagemixer. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Honey + appletop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together569 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sweet potato + lemontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together314 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sweet potato + maple syruptop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together93 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sweet potato + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sweet potato, butter, honey, lemon, apple, pepper, maple syrup):

Figfits better
Mangofits better
Grapefits better
Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sweet potato, butter, honey, lemon, apple, pepper, maple syrup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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