Soul Food · dessert

Sweet Potato Pie with Buttermilk and Nutmeg

Name: Sweet Potato Pie with Buttermilk and Nutmeg
Prep time: 2 h 24 min
Total time: 4 h 24 min
Cuisine: Soul Food
Ingredients: red-skinned sweet potatoes — 900 g; blind-baked — 100 g; light-brown sugar — 150 g; unsalted butter — 85 g; eggs — 165 g; buttermilk — 180 g; freshly grated nutmeg — 5 g; ground cinnamon — 5 g; bourbon — 15 g; vanilla extract — 5 g; salt — 3 g; cornstarch — 15 g

Sweet Potato Pie with Buttermilk and Nutmeg reads sweetness 5.7, richness 4.5 and salinity 3.6 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Soul Food dessert, about 4 hr 24 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 4.0 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 6.1 / 10
Sour & Bright — 3.1 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 2.5 / 10
Rich & Fat — 5.1 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 3.6 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 5.7 · Richness 4.5 · Salinity 3.6 · Floral 3.3 · Sourness 3.1 · Warm Spice 2.8 · Earthy 2.3 · Nutty 2.2 · Funk & Ferment 2.1 · Umami 1.5 · Fruity 1.3 · Bitterness 0.8 · Smoke 0.7

What's in it (12)

red-skinned sweet potatoes — 900 g
blind-baked — 100 g
light-brown sugar — 150 g
unsalted butter — 85 g
eggs — 165 g
buttermilk — 180 g
freshly grated nutmeg — 5 g
ground cinnamon — 5 g
bourbon — 15 g
vanilla extract — 5 g
salt — 3 g
cornstarch — 15 g

Time & effort: about 4 hr 24 min (2 hr 24 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 100.2 kcal, 2.7 g protein, 5.6 g fat, 19.7 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (6 steps)

Sweet potato pie is not pumpkin pie with a substitution, and the difference is textural: sweet potato has enough starch and fibre to set a custard almost on its own, so the filling wants fewer eggs, less cream and no thickening beyond a spoonful of cornstarch. Get that right and it slices clean with a dense, almost fudgy centre rather than a wobble.
Bake the sweet potatoes whole and unpeeled on a tray at 200 C (400 F) for 60 minutes, until they are collapsing and the sugar has run out of them and caramelised black on the tray. Do not boil them — boiling waterlogs the flesh and you will spend the rest of the recipe fighting it. Let them cool 20 minutes, then peel and mash the flesh smooth; you want about 600 g.
Beat the brown sugar and softened butter together until light, 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Stir the mashed sweet potato into the butter and sugar, then add the buttermilk, nutmeg, cinnamon, bourbon, vanilla, salt and cornstarch and beat until completely smooth, 2 minutes. Freshly grated nutmeg matters more here than any other single flavouring — pre-ground is flat and slightly dusty and the pie tastes of it.
Pour into the blind-baked shell and bake at 175 C (350 F) for 50 minutes, until the edges are set and the centre still trembles slightly when you nudge the tin. It will firm as it cools.
Cool at least 2 hours before cutting; a warm sweet potato pie will not hold an edge. It is better on the second day and it does not need cream.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Chess Pie — Southern
Danish Æbleskiver — Scandinavian
Apple Stack Cake with Sorghum — American · Appalachian
Picarones — Peruvian
Túrógombóc (Cottage Cheese Dumplings) — Hungarian

Keep reading: what sweetness, richness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.