No. 2832

Sweet Potatoes Roasted and Broiled

Patates Roties et Grillees

In the Oven.-Wash and cut off both ends, pare them olive-shaped, lay them on a baking pan, cover with butter and roast in a moderate oven for about thirty minutes; when done serve inside of a folded napkin.

Broiled.-In order to have them broiled cut some steam-boiled, peeled potatoes in slices three-eighths of an inch thick, then trim olive-shaped and lay them in a double broiler; salt and coat over with melted butter and broil on a slow fire; dress them inside a folded napkin.

← No. 2831 Sweet Potatoes Souffled and Sweet Potato Cro Potatoes & Sweet Potatoes No. 2833 Tomatoes a la Boquillon →

For the Modern Kitchen

Two very short methods from Ranhofer, both of which assume a cook who already knows how to turn a vegetable and dress a platter. The shaping is not decoration for its own sake — uniform pieces are what makes the timing work.

Moderate ovenRanhofer gives no figure; "moderate" is conventionally read today as somewhere around 350F. At that heat pared, olive-shaped pieces of sweet potato take roughly the thirty minutes given, whereas whole potatoes would need an hour or more, so keep the pieces to about the size of a large egg.
"Pare them olive-shaped"This is the tourn he a seven-sided football about two inches long. Any uniform shape will cook evenly, but expect to lose a fair amount of the potato in trimmings — save them for soup or mash.
Cover with butterRead this as generously coating, not submerging. Two to three tablespoons of melted butter for two pounds of potato, brushed on and then again halfway through roasting, keeps the cut surfaces from drying and gives a glazed finish.
Steam-boiled potatoesFor the broiled version, steam the potatoes whole in their skins until barely tender, then cool before peeling and slicing. Fully soft potatoes will collapse on the grill; slightly underdone ones slice cleanly at the specified three-eighths of an inch.
"A double broiler" and "a slow fire"The double broiler is a hinged wire grill basket set over coals, which lets you flip the whole batch at once. Under a modern overhead broiler this method scorches; a stovetop grill pan or a covered outdoor grill over medium heat, about five minutes a side, is the closer equivalent.
SeasoningSalt is specified only for the broiled version. Salt the roasted ones too, before they go into the oven, and finish either with black pepper if you want them savory rather than confectionery-sweet.
Served in a folded napkinA linen napkin folded into a pocket on the serving dish absorbs steam and keeps the pieces dry and hot. It is period service rather than function you cannot get another way — a warmed platter lined with a cloth does the same job.
YieldTwo pounds of sweet potatoes, once pared to shape, serves four as a side dish.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of what came out of the Delmonico's kitchens in New York during his thirty-odd years as chef there, and its sweet potato entries show a distinctly American vegetable being put through an entirely French set of procedures — pared en olive, glazed with butter, dressed in a folded napkin, and given a French title. Sweet potatoes were long established in the American South and in New York markets by then, but they rarely appear in French cookbooks of the period; Ranhofer treats them the way Paris treated ordinary potatoes, which is much of what makes the book interesting. The numbering here, in the high 2800s, places them among the vegetable garnishes rather than the sweetened dishes: no sugar, no marshmallow, nothing but butter and salt. The marshmallow-topped sweet potato familiar from later American holiday tables belongs to the twentieth century, not to this one.