Why it works: Sweet potato and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,491 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Boil and peel the sweet potatoes.
Place them in a greased baking pan.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until they crust over.
Baste several times with a little butter.
When they are a rich golden or brown color, dish and serve.
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 + buttertop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,491 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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