Conference turris::cooks

    
    
    
     
    Try this on for size...
    
    
    Bake the sweet potatoes ahead, let them cool and scoop out the meat. 
    Dispose of the skins
    Mash the potatoes with butter, salt, nutmeg and a touch of cream,
    pretty much the same way you make regular mashed potatoes.
    
    Using a pastry bag (or a plastic bag with the corner cut out or a cone
    made fron waxed paper) pipe the potato into hollowed out macintosh
    apples.  (slice the top of the apple about 1/3 from the top and remove
    the core, leaving about 1/2 an inch of apple all the way around on the
    inside).  
    
    Line them up sungly in a baking dish so the sides touch and they hold
    each other up.  Cover with foil and bake about 15 minutes at 350
    degrees.  Take the foil off, sprinkle with a _tiny_ bit of brown sugar
    and topbrown for a couple of seconds.
    
    Delicious!  Let me know how you like it.  This is one of my own
    creations.
    
    Mary Jo
     

    My family has made sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving ever since I can
    remember!  All I do is peal off the skins, cut the potatoes into
    slices (rather than chuncks), layer them in a long baking dish.
    Then I pile on butter cubes, brown sugar and top it off with
    a bunch of marshmellows.  I usually cover it with aluminum foil
    and bake it at 350 for about an hour or until the potatoes are done.
    
    I also add about 1/2 cup molasses if I'm feeling especially "sweet"
    that day!
    
    Can't miss - have fun!
    
    Judie

    .1 sounds great, but I wonder if I can cheat on the amount of work
    needed by peeling and cubing them, then boiling, THEN mashing?
    I'm not very patient with twice-baked potatoes - all that baking,
    cooling, scooping.  If I could get away with the standard
    mashed-potato method for the first part, I'm more likely to try it.
    Will it affect the texture or flavor very much? 
    I'd love to try it, especially with Dad's very own apples...
    
    Also, how does one purchase sweet potatoes? What do I look for?
    Firmness, softness, color, bruising, shape?  I have no idea! My family
    has never eaten these before, so I thought it might be a nice dish to
    bring for Thanksgiving.  
    
    Sarah

    I usually pick them out like regular potatoes - shape doesn't matter
    (they come in some pretty funky shapes), but you don't want one with 
    unusually bruising or softness.  I pretty much treat sweet potatoes and
    yams the same way - use the same methods for cooking both.  (One is
    sweeter than the other, I can't remember which.)  I've cooked them
    most of the ways suggested here - mashed with butter and brown sugar, 
    or sliced them and baked them with the brown sugar and butter topping.  
    They are great.  
    
    \Caroline

    No problem with the boiling method.  It shouldn't effect the end
    result.  Just be careful not to overcook and don't let them sit in the
    hot water.  Drain right away as soon as the're done so they don't get
    soggy.
    
    Good luck!
       
    Mary Jo

    I would be interested in knowing which is sweeter, yams or sweet
    potatoes because I have never heard of that before.
    
    When I was pregnant, they became one of my favorite foods.  I never had
    them much before the holiday season.  I found that baking them and
    putting on a nice pad of butter with a dash of cinnamon was a perfect
    meal at times.  My other favorite way is baking four regular potatoes
    with one sweet potato.  Mash together, add some sour cream and its a
    wonderful alternative to regular mashed potatoes with butter (my MIL
    hates butter.  I learned this from her.  She uses a mixer and then come
    out so fluffy).
    
    When I prepare them now, I just prick several times with a fork and
    bake like a regular potato.  Yams, etc. are harder than normal potato
    and they will hard to slice raw.  This way is quicker and the skin
    slips right off.
    
    The marshellow recipe sounds so sweet however, I bet the kids love it!
    
    cj

re: .6

>    I would be interested in knowing which is sweeter, yams or sweet
>    potatoes because I have never heard of that before.
    
I've recently read that, in the US at least, they're all really sweet
potatoes, even the ones labelled as yams.  I don't know for sure if this
is really true, nor do I know what a *real* yam would be like.

-Hal

    
    	I've read that as well. 'Yams' in the US have really been sweet
    	potatoes for quite some time apparently...

    	-Erik	

    I think the ones labelled sweet potatoes are sweeter, but wouldn't
    swear to it.  I know the ones called yams are a different shape/color
    from the sweet potatoes, so if they are sweet potatoes, they are a
    different strain.
    
    \Caroline

re: .9

>    I think the ones labelled sweet potatoes are sweeter, but wouldn't
>    swear to it.  I know the ones called yams are a different shape/color
>    from the sweet potatoes, so if they are sweet potatoes, they are a
>    different strain.
    
Sweet potatoes come in a number of varieties.  Around here (Baltimore) at 
least, one can buy them in colors ranging from fairly bright orange to a
colort more like a "normal" potato.  I've only ever seen the orange ones
called yams.

-Hal

    
    	The dictionary would seem to agree. A yam is "a sweet potato with
    	reddish flesh"...
     

    I saw this in a magazine - never tried it - but it looked real
    pretty...
    
    	-  Make a batch of mashed white potato and another batch of mashed
           sweet potato. 
    
    	-  Using a cookie press/bakers bag/whatever tool you wish press out
    	   a circle shaped swirl of white potato onto a greased cookie
           sheet, two go-arounds tall
    
    	(the picture showed a swirl with fluted edges, probably used one
    	of the "star" attachments, and the overall size of the circle was
    	probably about 3")
    
    	- then, on top of the white potato swirl, make swirls with the
    	  sweet potato mixture
    
    	- bake in a moderate oven to "brown"  (just get the edges a little
    	  crispy)
    
    The picture in the magazine made it look very interesting. May try it
    this year. 
    
    janetb.

    Can you put that recipe for the yams/sweet potatoes with pineapple
    and marshmallows in here.
    
    I was asked to bring this dish for Thanksgiving dinner because the
    hostess (my sister-in-law) had it at my house and liked it.  Only
    problem is someone else brought it to my house.
    
    Would appreciate it.
    
    Judie
    
    
    

    My mom made something like this when we were young, so this is from
    memory. Hope this helps!
    
    ingrediants:
    
    butter/marg.
    Sweet potatoes - either canned or cooked mashed 
    	(these were very deep orange and very sweet - don't know if that is
    	a yam or a sweet potato)
    pineapple rings
    miniature marshmellows
    
    
    
    lightly butter a dish (my mom used to use a glass pie plate)
    
    put a scoop (large ice cream scooper works well) of sweet potato into
    dish, top with pineapple ring (push the scoop of potatoes down so it's
    almost flat) and 3-4 miniature marshmellows inside the pineapple ring
    
    put in oven (she usually did it with a roast of some type, so I expect
    the oven was 350 or 325 degrees
    
    let it cook until potato is hot and marshmellows are melted, even a
    little browned (not sure the length of time)
    
    	
    you could probably add brown sugar to the mixture, but I think the
    marshmellows make it sweet enough. As a kid I remember scraping off the
    potato and just eating the pineapple and marshmellow (thank goodness my
    sweet tooth has faded a little)
    
    Good luck!