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Spanish-american Cookery

A sweet made from grated coconut, sweet potato, sugar syrup, eggs, and cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Landmarks Club · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 25 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓

Spanish-american Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Grate an ordinary coconut, grate a sweet potato and remove the starch.

  2. Mix the fibre that is left with the grated nut as thoroughly as possible.

Make the syrup and cook

  1. Put in a kettle a little water with three pounds of sugar and make a syrup.

  2. As soon as this begins to boil, clarify it with an egg.

  3. Then put into it the mixed coconut and sweet potato, and stir well with a wooden spoon.

  4. When it is about to boil, add the well-beaten yolks of six eggs; stir, and let it come barely to a boil.

  5. Remove and sprinkle well with cinnamon.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

904Calories
30 gProtein
16 gFat
164 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 11 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Peach1 medium (150g)59
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

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

By Landmarks Club. 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. See the original page.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Apple + peachtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together303 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Clove + appletop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Peach + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together625 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks thicken the mixture as it heats and give it a rich, custard-like body.
Sugar
Sweetens the dish and, when boiled into a syrup, forms the base the coconut is cooked in.
Coconut (in the method)
Provides the main bulk, moisture and nutty flavour of the sweet.
Sweet potato (in the method)
Adds starch and body, helping the mixture hold together and become thick.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks. Yolks thicken as they warm, but if the mixture boils hard after they go in, they can scramble and turn grainy. Stirring and holding it just at a bare boil keeps the texture smooth.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, apple, milk, flour, egg, peach, cinnamon):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Gingerfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, apple, milk, flour, egg, peach, cinnamon. 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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