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Baked Sweet Potatoes

Baked sweet potatoes are cooked in an oven with water until the water reduces to a syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Baked Sweet Potatoes

Baked Sweet Potatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Select sweet potatoes of similar size.

Bake

  1. Place them in a baking pan and add enough water to cover them halfway.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until done, allowing the water to reduce to a rich syrup.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Sweet potatoes
Provide the starchy flesh that becomes soft, sweet and tender when baked.
Water
Creates steam and reduces in the pan into a syrup that moistens and glazes the potatoes.

The step that matters

Let the water reduce to a syrup. Baking in water-filled pan creates steam that cooks the potatoes, and as the water evaporates, its sugars concentrate into a glossy syrup. Stopping too early leaves the potatoes wet; baking too long can scorch the pan.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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