# Sweet Potatoes - how do you love them best?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 12, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304 "2011-01-12T03:58:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/1 "2011-01-12T03:58:56Z")
For me, the best part of early winter is the fresh, from the ground, sweet potato. I eat a lot of them between November and February.
I like to bake them. prick the potato several places with a fork, rub with butter and put on a baking pan. 350 degrees, 1 hour 15 minutes. That’s usually about perfect for medium size ones.
The next day, I take the left over ones from the fridge. peel, dice, and cook in a pan with butter. yum!!!
Sweet Potato Casserole is good too. Candied Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Potato pie. Let’s see what else? :dubious: I bet someone knows a way I forgot. 😉
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/2 "2011-01-12T04:07:03Z")
Almost forgot…
If you want to use fresh sweet potatoes for pie or casserole. How do you do that? It’s been years since I did it without the canned stuff.
Do you just slice & boil them until tender? Cool and then make the casserole or pie? I can’t remember the last time anyone in my family did this with anything but canned.
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### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/3 "2011-01-12T04:07:23Z")
I got an awesome sweet potato recipe from Cook’s Illustrated magazine a couple of years ago and still make it all the time. Basically you cut the sweet potatoes into rounds. You toss them with a little olive oil and salt. Line a baking sheet with foil, and place the rounds onto the foil in a single layer. Then cover the pan tightly with foil.
It goes into a cold oven (that part is important, for some arcane cooking reason I can’t remember at the moment) at… I think 400 degrees? For half an hour. Then you remove the foil, bake for another half hour or so, then flip and give them another 20ish minutes. They come out browned and tasty and zomg, so good. I can try to locate the actual recipe tomorrow to check the temperature and timing details if anyone is interested.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/4 "2011-01-12T04:09:25Z")
Baked, gutted, butter, salt, pepper. I really dislike candied sweet potatoes, particularly with marshmallows. Who the hell ever thought up that concoction? I also like to cut them into wedges, toss in olive oil and seasoned salt, and roast them.
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### Author:  [@Mister\_Owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Owl)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/5 "2011-01-12T04:12:07Z")
Sweet potato fries. With pulled pork bbq of course.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/6 "2011-01-12T04:16:04Z")
Oh yes, I’d love that recipe.
I bought a half bushel of sweet potatoes from a farm in early November. I’d love to try this recipe. 🙂
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> I got an awesome sweet potato recipe from Cook’s Illustrated magazine a couple of years ago and still make it all the time. Basically you cut the sweet potatoes into rounds. You toss them with a little olive oil and salt. Line a baking sheet with foil, and place the rounds onto the foil in a single layer. Then cover the pan tightly with foil.
>
> It goes into a cold oven (that part is important, for some arcane cooking reason I can’t remember at the moment) at… I think 400 degrees? For half an hour. Then you remove the foil, bake for another half hour or so, then flip and give them another 20ish minutes. They come out browned and tasty and zomg, so good. I can try to locate the actual recipe tomorrow to check the temperature and timing details if anyone is interested.
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### Author:  [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/7 "2011-01-12T04:18:10Z")
Roasted with sweet onions and chunks of pork or ham.
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### Author:  [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/8 "2011-01-12T04:18:49Z")
My mom makes incredible sweet potato fritters, with a recipe that I have intentionally not learned, because my waistline already bears watching. Essentially, though, she uses leftover baked sweet potatoes, mashed, plus some flour, brown sugar, egg, and cinnamon to make a thick batter. Drop by spoonsful into hot deep fryer. Sift powdered sugar onto hot fritters. Eat. Watch thighs grow. Seriously good.
I too adore sweet potatoes, particularly in their simplest form: baked, and served with or without butter. No real need to gild the proverbial lily.
Oh, and every recipe I see suggests boiling potatoes before using in a casserole. Personally, I like to bake them, since it seems to add depth to the flavor. I usually use a potato ricer instead of mashing, since that seems to remove those long stringy fibers.
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### Author:  [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/9 "2011-01-12T04:33:54Z")
Baked,with butter only. My cat loves them that way too.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/10 "2011-01-12T04:49:26Z")
Baked until caramelized, with or without black pepper.
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### Author:  [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/11 "2011-01-12T05:35:53Z")
Voted for baked but only because I forgot about sweet potato french fries.
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### Author:  [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/12 "2011-01-12T05:48:38Z")
Mashed, with lots of butter, a pinch of cinnamon and chopped up walnuts… food of the gods.
I also LOVE them baked… had a hard time choosing between the two. I have also had sweet potato fries a total of once in my life and ohhhhhhhhh…
DO NOT like them candied. they are just sweet enough on their own.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/13 "2011-01-12T06:09:37Z")
No fries on the poll? Sweet potato/yam fries with a proper dipping sauce are sooooo good.
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### Author:  [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/14 "2011-01-12T06:13:36Z")
I thought I 'd answer for my 6 month old who had it for the first time yesterday.
Other than boob milk, she prefers her sweet potatoes mashed.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/15 "2011-01-12T11:05:08Z")
I like to bake them, split them, and put some butter, cinnamon, and a LITTLE BIT of brown sugar in them. I don’t like them candied, that’s too sweet for me (and I have a big sweet tooth). My husband and I sometimes split a small sweet potato, and he likes his half with butter and salt and pepper.
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### Author:  [@Seamack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seamack)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/16 "2011-01-12T12:54:59Z")
I like to roast them in some cajun seasoning (Tesco) along with chopped red peppers and red onions.
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/17 "2011-01-12T13:45:59Z")
Don’t like them as a vegetable by themselves they are just too sweet for my tooth. However. I do think they make a good bulking agent for a curry (along with pumpkin and other squashes) as such dishes need the sweetness and the nutty qualities work well with the sharper and more fragrant ingredients.
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/18 "2011-01-12T14:17:36Z")
Peel, chop into small cubes, toss with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper, and then roast in the oven till they’re a little brown on the outside and you can poke a fork through them.
Delicious.
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### Author:  [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/19 "2011-01-12T14:30:54Z")
Love them baked! One of the steakhouses I eat at sometimes has this cinnamon-infused butter that they serve with their store-baked biscuits. They put the same butter on their sweet potatoes. Mmmmm. The offer the option of marshmallows and brown sugar on top of the potato, but I don’t find it necessary.
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### Author:  [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-potatoes-how-do-you-love-them-best/567304/20 "2011-01-12T16:15:22Z")
Shoulda been multiple choice - we eat sweet potatoes a lot of different ways. Mashed, candied, baked, pies, in stews… The list is kinda lengthy.
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