Name: Sweet Potato Bread
Ingredients: 3 large sweet potatoes; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 tablespoon butter; 1½ cups cornmeal; scant 1 cup milk; 1 egg

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Sweet Potato Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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 batter

Boil the sweet potatoes until tender, then peel and mash them.
Mix the mashed sweet potatoes with salt and butter.
Add cornmeal, milk, and beaten egg to the mixture and stir until combined.

Bake and serve

Pour the batter into a buttered baking pan.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.
Serve hot with plenty of butter.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Sweet potato + milktop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together596 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sweet potato + buttertop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,491 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, 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 main body and moisture, making the bread soft and tender.
Cornmeal: Gives the bread its structure and grainy, crumbly texture.
Egg: Binds the mixture together and helps it set as it bakes.
Milk: Adds moisture and softens the cornmeal so the batter spreads evenly.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, contributing to a tender crumb and flavor.