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Title: Rum-Glazed Sweet Potato Pudding
Categories: History Dessert
Yield: 6 Servings
| 1/3 | c | Sweet or dry sherry or Madeira |
| 2/3 | c | Raisins |
| 2 | lb | Sweet potatoes, baked, Boiled or steamed until tender |
| 1/2 | c | Unsalted butter, melted |
| 4 | lg | Eggs |
| 2 | c | Milk |
| 1 | c | Packed brown sugar |
| 1/2 | ts | Mace |
| Pinch of salt | ||
| Grated zest of 1 orange | ||
| 2 | tb | Lemon juice |
| 1/4 | c | +1 tablespoon dark rum |
Pour the sherry or Madeira over the raisins in a small bowl; let stand for 30 minutes or longer.
Preheat the oven to 375F., with a rack in the center. Butter an 11" oval gratin dish or other shallow baking dish; set aside.
Halve the cooked sweet potatoes; scoop out the flesh and place it in a large bowl. Add 1/4c +1 Tbsp of the melted butter. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat with an electric mixer into the sweet potato-butter mixture. Add the milk, 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, the mace, salt and orange zest and beat until blended. Beat in the raisins and their soaking liquid. Scoop the mixture into the baking dish.
Warm the remaining 3 tablespoons melted butter in a small skillet. Stir in the remaining 2/3 cup brown sugar and the lemon juice; cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbly, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the rum and return the mixture to a boil. Drizzle the rum glaze randomly over the surface of the sweet potato mixture.
Bake until the pudding is set and the glaze is bubbly, and about 45 minutes. Serves 6-8.
18th Century Recipe Note: This is a simple baked pudding with a base of mashed sweet potatoes. It has a wonderfully rich flavor. In colonial America, sweet potatoes were far more common than white ones. (Some recipes call for yams, with which sweet potatoes have become permanent confused. Virtually all of what we buy today, regardless of how they are labeled, are sweet potatoes. The confusion began when African-born slaves gave their native name -- yam -- to sweet potatoes.)
Essentually a pleasant variation on the Thanksgiving classic that is often topped with arc-welded marshmallows, this pudding is not cloyingly sweet and allows the sweet potatoes own nice flavor to come through. Serve it warm, topped with whipped cream flavored with vanilla and dark rum. Courtesy of Rick Rutan Springfield, Ohio
MM Format by John Hartman Indianapolis, IN
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