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
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the filling
In a large bowl, combine the sieved sweet potatoes, softened butter, sugar, milk, and eggs.
Add nutmeg or cinnamon to taste and mix thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into the pie crust.
Bake
Bake for about 45 minutes or until set.
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.
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.
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Sweet potato + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together414 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Sweet potato + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together596 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Form the bulk of the filling and give the pie its body and flavor.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the filling.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown slightly as it bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the filling into a pourable custard.
- Eggs
- Bind the filling and set as it bakes, giving the pie its firm texture.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Eggs set as they heat, so the pie should be baked until the center is firm. Pulling it too early can leave a runny filling that does not slice cleanly.
Swap the sweet potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, egg, nutmeg):
- Sweet potatothe original
- Potatofits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Leekfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, egg, 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.
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