Mama’s Sweet Potato Soufflé

Name: Mama’s Sweet Potato Soufflé
Yield: serves 6 to 8
Ingredients: 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for the baking dish, melted; 4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed; 1/2 cup granulated sugar; 2 large eggs, lightly beaten; 1/3 cup whole milk; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 cup chopped pecans

By Virginia Willis

December 9, 2011

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Photo by Chelsea Kyle

I prefer using fresh sweet potatoes over the canned variety. However, not everyone feels this way. Around the fall holidays, towering mountains of canned yams are constructed in grocery stores throughout the South. Truth is, the contents are not yams at all. What is often labeled and sold as yams are actually sweet potatoes. Botanically speaking, yams are tubers and a member of the lily family; sweet potatoes are the root of a member of the morning glory family. Yams originated in Africa, whereas sweet potatoes are New World plants. There are many varieties of both that differ in size, taste, shape, and color. When I doubted Mama about the amount of butter and sugar in this dish for a mere four sweet potatoes, she laughed and said, “Y’all always like it this way.” Feel free to reduce the amount of sugar and butter in the sweet potato base should your conscience (or waistline) see fit.

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