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 Pudding
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 the sweet potato
Boil and peel sweet potatoes. Weigh out ¼ pound when cold.
Mash the sweet potato until very smooth and rub it through a sieve.
Make the filling
Cream together the sugar and butter.
Beat the eggs until light and stir them into the butter and sugar alternately with the sweet potato.
Gradually add the liquor, rose water, and spice. Mix everything thoroughly.
Spread puff pastry on a soup plate and pour in the mixture.
Bake and serve
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.
Grate sugar over the top before serving.
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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Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Rose + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,067 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Brandy + rosetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together560 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet potato
- Provides the bulk and moist, dense body of the pudding filling.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set on baking to give the pudding structure.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to add richness and a tender crumb.
- Powdered white sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps cream with the butter to trap air.
- Mixed wine and brandy
- Adds liquid and alcoholic aroma to the filling.
The step that matters
Beat the eggs until light and stir them in alternately. Whipping the eggs traps air that helps the pudding rise and lighten. Adding them alternately with the sweet potato keeps the batter smooth and stops it from curdling or separating.
Swap the sweet potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, wine, brandy, rose, nutmeg):
- Sweet potatothe original
- Arrowrootfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, wine, brandy, rose, 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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