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
makes two large piesIngredients
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
Boil the sweet potatoes until tender, then mash until smooth.
In a bowl, combine the mashed sweet potatoes, sugar, cream, butter, eggs, nutmeg, and lemon zest, and mix until well combined.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a pie crust.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set, about 30-40 minutes.
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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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sweet potato + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together314 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 once mashed smooth.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown lightly as it bakes.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the filling smooth and tender.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rich mouthfeel and smooth texture.
- Eggs
- Set the filling as it bakes, giving it a firm, sliceable structure.
The step that matters
Baking until set. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the filling loose and watery, while overbaking can make it cracked and dry. Check for a firm centre rather than relying only on the time.
Swap the sweet potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, butter, egg, nutmeg, lemon):
- Leekfits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
- Arrowrootfits about as well
- Sweet potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, butter, egg, nutmeg, lemon. 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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