Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. 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 large bowl, combine the mashed sweet potatoes and butter until smooth.
Add the eggs, cream, sugar, and spices, mixing well.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake for about 45 minutes or until set.
Serve warm with sauce.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, 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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Sweet potato + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,151 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 main body and bulk of the pudding, with natural sweetness and moisture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and smooth texture, carrying flavour through the pudding.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set it into a firm, sliceable custard as they cook.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, producing a softer, more tender texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps browning on the baked surface.
The step that matters
Bake until just set. Eggs set as they heat, so baking past the point of set makes the pudding curdled, dry and grainy. Pull it from the oven once the centre barely wobbles, since it firms further as it cools.
Swap the sweet potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, cream, sugar, wine):
- Potatofits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Sweet potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, cream, sugar, wine. 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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