Why it works: Sweet potato and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 314 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Sweet Potato Pudding
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 batter
In a bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks, sweet potato, lemon juice, and lemon zest to the butter mixture and mix well.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish, with or without a pie crust.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set and lightly browned.
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 + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together314 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Sugar + sweet potatotop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,151 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whites trapped by beating give lift and a light, airy structure; yolks add richness and set the custard.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and add richness and a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter for a light texture and adds sweetness.
- Sweet potato
- Supplies moisture and body, giving the pudding its dense, smooth texture.
- Lemons
- Juice adds acidity that brightens the sweetness; zest adds aroma.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites hold air that gives the pudding its lift. Stirring them in vigorously knocks that air out, leaving a denser, flatter result, so fold gently until no white streaks remain.
Swap the sweet potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, lemon):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Sweet potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, 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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