Name: Cream of Sweet Potatoes, for Pies
Ingredients: 12 Sweet Potatoes; 2 eggs; 4 egg yolks; 6 ounces butter; ¼ teaspoon salt; ½ pound macaroons, ground into crumbs; 1/3 cup rum or lemon flavor; sugar to taste

Why it works: Butter and rum are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,007 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cream of Sweet Potatoes, for Pies

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Cook the sweet potatoes

Boil or steam the sweet potatoes until three-quarters done.
Transfer them to a pan and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until fully cooked.
Peel the cooked sweet potatoes and pound them through a colander.

Make the cream

Add the eggs, egg yolks, butter, salt, macaroons, and rum or lemon flavor.
Sweeten with sugar and mix everything well together.

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.

Butter + rumtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,007 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Rum + sugartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,908 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Sweet potatoes: Provide the bulk and body of the cream, with natural sweetness and moisture.
Eggs: Add richness and help bind the mixture as they set during cooking.
Egg yolks: Add extra richness, fat and smoothness to the cream.
Butter: Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and mouthfeel.
Macaroons: Add body and an almond-based sweet aroma as crumbs.

The step that matters

Pound the sweet potatoes smooth. Sweet potatoes must be fully cooked and pressed through a colander so no lumps or fibers remain. Starch that is not fully softened stays grainy and resists blending into a smooth cream.

Swap the sweet potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, rum, sugar. 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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Cream of Sweet Potatoes, for Pies