Name: Sweet Potato Pudding No I
Ingredients: 3 cups grated sweet potatoes; 2 cups milk; 5 eggs; 1 cup syrup; 1½ cups sugar; 1 tablespoon butter; ½ teaspoon mixed ground spices

Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Sweet Potato Pudding No I

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a bowl, beat together the sugar, butter, and eggs.
Add the grated sweet potatoes, milk, and mixed spices; mix well.
Pour the mixture into a baking pan.

Bake

Bake in the preheated oven until the top is brown.
Stir the pudding and let a second crust form.

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.

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.

Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Sweet potato + milktop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together596 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Sweet potato + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,151 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 starchy body that gives the pudding its dense texture.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set as it bakes.
Milk: Adds moisture and richness, helping the pudding stay tender.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the top brown during baking.
Syrup: Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the top brown.

The step that matters

Stir the pudding and let a second crust form. Stirring partway through redistributes the cooked edges and liquid so the surface forms an even crust rather than a tough, uneven layer. Letting the crust set before stirring again keeps the texture smooth.

Swap the sweet potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, syrup, sugar, butter):

Sweet potatothe original
Potatofits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well
Asparagusfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, syrup, sugar, butter. 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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Sweet Potato Pudding No I