Name: Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients: one pound of steamed sweet potatoes finely mashed; two cups sugar; one cup cream; one-half cup butter; three well-beaten eggs; nutmeg

Why it works: Sweet potato and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 414 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

Mix one pound of steamed sweet potatoes finely mashed with two cups sugar, one cup cream, one-half cup butter, and three well-beaten eggs.
Flavor with lemon or nutmeg.

Bake

Bake in a pastry shell.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

453Calories

11 gProtein

23 gFat

52 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12

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

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

Sweet potato + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together414 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,920 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet potatoes: Provide the bulk and body of the filling, setting into a smooth, sliceable custard.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown lightly at the edges.
Cream: Adds richness and moisture, giving the filling a smooth, silky texture.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender, velvety mouthfeel.
Eggs: Set the filling into a custard as they cook, giving it structure.