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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the potatoes
Boil the sweet potatoes in their skins until tender.
Peel the potatoes while hot and rub them through a colander.
Make the filling
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar with the warm potatoes.
Mix in the eggs beaten until light and frothy.
Stir in the cream, then add the lemon juice and rind.
Finally, add nutmeg and brandy to taste.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a 3‑inch deep tin lined with puff pastry, without a top crust.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve cold.
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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Lemon + nutmegtop 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 potatoes
- Provide the bulk and body of the filling, giving it a smooth, soft texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the filling and help it set firm as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel to the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps it brown lightly in the oven.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the filling soft and creamy.
The step that matters
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 to 30 minutes. Eggs set as the filling heats, so baking too long can make the custard curdle, weep or turn rubbery. Watch for a firm edge with a slight wobble in the centre.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sweet potato, egg, butter, sugar, cream, brandy, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sweet potato, egg, butter, sugar, cream, brandy, nutmeg. 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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