Name: Sweet Potato Custard Pie
Ingredients: 1 large pint of sweet potatoes; 2 cups sugar; 1 quart milk; 2 tablespoons butter; 3 tablespoons rolled crackers; 4 eggs; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon vanilla

Why it works: Cinnamon and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Sweet Potato Custard Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the sweet potatoes until very soft, then press through a colander or meat grinder.
In a bowl, combine the potato puree with the egg yolks, cracker crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon.
Boil the milk with the butter, then gradually pour it over the potato mixture, mixing thoroughly.
Fold in the beaten egg whites until well combined.
Pour the mixture into pie crusts to make four pies.

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.

Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,287 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Sweet potato + cinnamontop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together539 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Sweet potato + vanillatop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together189 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).