WWII Thanksgiving: Candied Sweet Potatoes
A WWII Thanksgiving dinner from 1944: Candied Sweet Potatoes, Oyster Dressing, and Molded Cranberry Sauce
City/Region: United States of America
Time Period: 1944
Whether they were crossing the International Date Line and thus eating two Thanksgiving dinners, having a classic American Thanksgiving in London, or chasing down turkeys that rolled out of a diving submarine’s oven, enjoying a real Thanksgiving was an important morale booster for many soldiers in WWII. There are a lot of recipes fit for Thanksgiving dinner in the Cook Book of the United States Navy, including candied (dehydrated) sweet potatoes.
The recipe as-is is a good baked sweet potato dish, but I would use fresh sweet potatoes if I made it again. The dehydrated ones keep some of that firm texture, even after soaking and cooking for quite a while. You may need to adjust the amount of liquid you use for the syrup depending on how much your dehydrated sweet potatoes absorb. The ones I found weren’t super dry and didn’t absorb a lot of water, so I would only use half of the liquid for the syrup.
“Soak potatoes in water 45 to 60 minutes. Cover. Heat to boiling temperature.
Let simmer 30 to 45 minutes or until tender.
Drain. Leave slices whole. Reserve liquid.
Combine sugar, salt and liquid from potatoes. Heat to boiling temperature. Cook 5 minutes.
Place sweet potatoes in greased baking pans.
Pour sirup over potatoes. Dot with butter.
Bake in moderate oven (350°F.) about 30 minutes.”
Ingredients:
- 1 2/3 lb (755 g) dehydrated sweet potato
- 2 1/2 cups (500 g) sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 stick (113 g) butter
Instructions:
- Soak the sweet potatoes in water for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Put the soaked sweet potatoes into a pot with 2 quarts (1.9 L) of water and bring it to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes, or until they’re nice and tender. Drain the sweet potatoes and save half of the liquid. If your sweet potatoes are more dehydrated than mine were, you might use all of the leftover liquid.
- Mix together the reserved liquid, sugar, and salt in a saucepan and set it over medium high heat. Bring it to a boil and let it boil for 5 minutes.
- Butter a baking dish and add the sweet potatoes. After the syrup has boiled for 5 minutes, pour it over the potatoes. Dot the top with the butter and bake for 30 minutes.
- Serve it forth with roast turkey, Molded Cranberry Sauce, and Oyster Dressing.