Sweet Potatoes with Nuts

A stuffed sweet potato with two temperature stages: a long bake to cook the flesh, then a short blast to crisp the bacon. The second stage is where these usually go wrong.

• Baking the halvesCut lengthwise, cut side down on an oiled sheet, 400F for 35-45 minutes depending on thickness. If you would rather bake them whole and split them afterward, allow closer to an hour at the same heat; the skins hold their shape better that way when you scoop.
• "Hot oven"425-450F. The shells are already cooked, so the only job is rendering the bacon, which takes 12-18 minutes at that heat. Thin-cut supermarket bacon will be crisp well before thick-cut is even translucent.
• The hinge: bacon on topA raw slice laid over mashed pulp drips fat down into the filling and often stays flabby underneath. Either lay the slice loosely so air reaches both sides, or part-cook it in a skillet first and finish it on the potato. Bacon fully raw at the start of a fifteen-minute bake is the usual reason this dish comes out soggy.
• Cream and butter, unmeasuredFor four halves, figure 2 tablespoons butter and 2-3 tablespoons cream. Baked sweet potato mashes looser and softer than white potato, so add cream a spoonful at a time -- the pulp needs to be stiff enough to heap and hold a shape.
• Nut meatsA half cup is the total for the batch. Pecans are a common choice in American recipes of this sort and toast nicely during the second bake; walnuts work but can turn bitter if the top browns hard. Chop them coarsely so they read as texture rather than paste.
• Scooping the shellsLeave about a quarter inch of flesh against the skin. Scraped bare, the skins collapse under the refilled pulp and cannot be lifted off the pan intact.
• YieldTwo large sweet potatoes give four halves, which serves four as a side or two as a light main. The filling can be mashed, seasoned and packed into the shells a day ahead; add the bacon just before the final bake.