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 gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Boil the sweet potato until tender, then let it cool.
Beat the eggs until light, then add the sugar, butter, cream, wine or brandy, nutmeg, and lemon peel.
Mash the cooled sweet potato and mix it into the egg mixture.
Bake and finish
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 the top with thinly sliced preserved citron or quince marmalade and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
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.
-
Sweet potato + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together414 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
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
- Provides the bulk and starch that give the pudding its soft, thick body.
- Eggs
- Beaten in to bind the filling and set it into a firm custard when baked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender, smooth texture to the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps it brown lightly in the oven.
- Sweet cream
- Adds moisture and richness, softening the filling's texture.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Baking only until the egg has firmed keeps the filling smooth and custard-like; overbaking causes the eggs to curdle and turn grainy and dry.
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.
More sweet potato pudding recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Deep-Fried Potato Balls119 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.