FEASTING ON SWEET POTATOES

I remember Mother and my sister, Nina, discussing sweet potato balls. I'm going to say I was no more than 10 at the time. I couldn't see that there was anything wrong with Mother's candied sweet potatoes, but Nina was talking about making sweet potato balls. I even remembered that they were looking at Mother's copy of Irma Rombauer's "The Joy of Cooking" (1946). In fact, when I checked that cookbook for the recipe, I found Mother's marker still on the page.

Sweet Potato Balls

Prepare by the preceding rule: Mashed sweet potatoes (I assume you can figure out how to mash your sweet potatoes.)
You may add: Grated orange rind or juice
Form potato balls around: Marshmallows (may be omitted)
Dilute: 1 egg
With: 2 tablespoons water
Dip the balls in the egg, then in: crushed cornflakes (I remember that Nina pressed half a red candied cherry into the center of each ball.)
Place the balls in a greased pan and bake until crisp in a moderate oven (350). Turn them to brown evenly. If desired the balls may be topped before being baked with a dab of butter and a little brown sugar.

Candied Sweet Potatoes (Mother made them this way.)
Slice 6 pared cooked sweet potatoes. Place in greased casserole. Add a syrup made of 1 cup brown sugar, ¼ cup water, ¼ cup butter, 1/3 cup butter, ½ tsp. salt. Bake at 350 (moderate oven) 45 minutes, basting occasionally. Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook, 1950 edition

Now, I'm not one to fuss much over the food, so when it fell to me to fix the sweet potatoes, I used the recipe below. If I made it today, I would use fat free sour cream and egg substitute and never know the difference.

Sweet Potato Mallow -- A classic recipe, Marshmallows form a snow-capped topping on the colorful casserole. It's a natural teammate for ham or the Thanksgiving turkey.
1 pound sweet potatoes or yams (about 3 medium)
½ cup dairy sour cream
1 egg yolk
½ tsp. salt
1/3 tsp. mace
¼ cup miniature marshmallows or cup-up large marshmallows
If using fresh sweet potatoes, prepare and cook.
Heat oven to 350. In small mixer bowl, combine sweet potatoes, sour cream, egg yolk, salt and mace, beat on medium speed until smooth. Pour sweet potato mixture into buttered 1-quart casserole, top with marshmallows. Bake 30 minutes or until marshmallows are puffed and golden brown. 4 servings. Betty Crocker's Cookbook, 1969

Richard writes about Thanksgiving, Southern style:"Mike's right about the dressing. We gave up mashed potatoes years ago but continue to have sweet potatoes (different recipes for different years). My favorite is to boil them, peel them, slice them about a 1/4 inch thick, put a little butter and brown sugar on them and caramelize them in a black iron skillet. So what if it's not low cal? It's Thanksgiving."

It's quite chilly here at the farm today and raining off and on. We're rather confined to the house, so I made a good start on deep cleaning the kitchen. And I rewarded myself for my efforts by putting my Pfaltzgraff Christmas Heritage dinner plates in the plate rack. KW