Name: Bourbon Baked Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients: 5-6 chubby, red-fleshed sweet potatoes; Splash of extra-virgin olive oil; Salt and pepper; 1-inch square of ginger, peeled and grated; 2 generous pinches of ground cinnamon or canela; 1 generous pinch of ground cloves; Zest of one lemon (orange zest would be good too); 3T unsalted butter, melted and cooled a bit; 1/4 cup maple syrup; Splash of milk (2T. or so); Splash of bourbon (2T. or so); 1/4 freshly grated Parmesan (not from the plastic container!); Spicy Pecans (recipe below); 1 tablespoon unsalted butter; 2 cups pecans; 1/3 cup brown sugar; 1 teaspoon paprika; 1 teaspoon red chile powder; 3 tablespoons cider vinegar

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sweet potato + cinnamontop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together539 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the sweet potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, pepper, ginger, cinnamon, clove, lemon, orange):

Carrotfits better
Capsicumfits about as well
Sweet potatothe original
Eggplantfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, pepper, ginger, cinnamon, clove, lemon, orange. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Maple Syrup	1 tbsp (20ml)	52
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Pecan	1 half (4g)	20
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Cloves	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Cider	not in our table	0

Bourbon Baked Sweet Potatoes