Name: Sweet Potato Pone
Ingredients: two cups of water; half teaspoonfuls of ginger; four large sweet potatoes; three eggs well beaten; butter the size of an ^^^; allspice; cinnamon; ginger; nutmeg

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 Pone

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

Take four large sweet potatoes, peel and grate them.
Add two cups of water or milk.
Add a lump of butter the size of an egg, melted.
Add three eggs, well beaten.
Add a teaspoonful each of allspice and cinnamon.
Add one and a half teaspoonfuls of ginger.
Add half a nutmeg, grated.
Mix all the ingredients well.

Bake

Butter a pudding pan.
Pour the mixture into the pan.
Bake in a moderate oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

366Calories

11 gProtein

18 gFat

43 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Allspice	1 tsp ground (1.9g)	5
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Water	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 Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed. 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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,536 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,331 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,620 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet potatoes: Form the bulk of the pudding, giving body and moisture to the batter.
Eggs: Bind the batter and help it set into a firm, sliceable custard as it bakes.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, giving a softer, more tender texture.
Water or milk: Loosens the batter so it bakes evenly and stays moist.

Swap the sweet potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, egg, butter, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg):

Sweet potatothe original
Shallotfits about as well
Parsnipfits less well
Carrotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, egg, butter, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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.