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 filling
Boil the sweet potato until thoroughly done, then mash it fine.
While the potato is hot, mix in the sugar and butter.
Set the mixture aside to cool.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until light.
Add the seasoning (nutmeg, lemon peel, wine or brandy) to the cooled potato mixture.
Assemble and bake
Line tin plates with puff pastry and pour in the sweet potato mixture.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.
Once baked, cover with thin slices of preserved citron or quince marmalade.
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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Butter + creamtop 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 potato
- Forms the bulk of the filling, giving body, moisture and a soft, smooth texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown lightly during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, smooth mouthfeel.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to bind the filling into a firm, sliceable custard.
- Sweet cream
- Adds fat and moisture, making the filling richer and creamier.
- Strong wine or brandy
- Adds aroma and a warm, complex flavour to the filling.
The step that matters
Bake until just set. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the filling runny and overbaking makes it dry, grainy or curdled. Pull it from the oven once the centre barely wobbles.
Swap the sweet potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, cream, wine, nutmeg, lemon, egg):
- Shallotfits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
- Arrowrootfits about as well
- Sweet potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, cream, wine, nutmeg, lemon, egg. 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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