George Washington Carver’s Sliced Sweet Potato Pie

Scientist and inventor Dr. George Washington Carver, the child of a Mississippi slave, believed peanuts, sweet potatoes, and science could free Southern farmers from poverty. Cotton had exhausted the soil of the Deep South, and at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University) in southeastern Alabama in the early twentieth century, he showed farmers the benefits of planting sweet potatoes. They were well suited to Alabama, and he worked to grow demand by developing 118 products made from them, including flour, vinegar, molasses, ink, rubber, and even postage stamp glue.

And, of course, he cooked with them, slicing them into this tantalizing pie where, with spices, molasses, and cream, they cook down inside the flaky pastry. When you fork into a bite, it’s a bit like pie and a bit like your favorite sweet potato casserole. This recipe is adapted from The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro (1958).

Serves 6 to 8 | Prep: 30 to 35 minutes | Bake: 62 to 67 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 (9-inch) piecrusts

• 2 medium (1 pound) unpeeled sweet potatoes

  Baking in the American South: 200 Recipes and Their Untold Stories Anne Byrn

• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

• Dashes of ground ginger, cloves, and nutmeg

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick/57 grams) salted butter, cut into tablespoons

• 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup molasses

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup hot water

DIRECTIONS

1. Line a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan or 1 1/2–quart casserole with one piecrust and set aside. Keep the other piecrust refrigerated.

2. Rinse and pat dry the sweet potatoes. Place them in a large saucepan, cover with water, and boil in their “jackets” (unpeeled) until nearly tender, 15 to 20 minutes. They should be soft but still firm. Drain and set aside to cool.

3. Heat the oven to 350oF, with a rack in the middle.

4. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them and slice lengthwise 1/3 inch thick. Lay the sweet potatoes on top of the crust. Sprinkle with the allspice, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Scatter the butter over the top, sprinkle on the sugar, and pour over the molasses and cream. Sprinkle the flour over the top and pour over the hot water.

5. Lay the second piecrust on top and trim the edges. With a fork, press the edges of the crust together to seal. Cut 6 (2-inch) slits in the top of the crust. Place in the oven and bake until golden brown and bubbly, 62 to 67 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 30 minutes, then slice and serve.

Taken from Baking in the American South: 200 Recipes and Their Untold Stories by Anne Byrn.  Copyright © 2024 by Anne Byrn. Photographs © 2024 by Rinne Allen.  Used by permission of Harper Celebrate. 

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