Only a Southerner, inheritor of the infamous Southern sweet tooth, would add massive quantities of butter and sugar to a dish and still regard it as a vegetable. Add a shot of bourbon? No problem. —Virginia Willis, from her recently revised cookbook, Bon Appétit, Y’All.
Bourbon Sweet Potatoes (Yield: 4–6 Servings)
Ingredients
4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the baking dish
4–6 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced about ½ inch thick
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup bourbon
2 tbsp. sorghum, cane, or maple syrup
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an ovenproof gratin or casserole dish. Arrange the sweet potato slices in the prepared dish and season with salt and pepper.
- In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, 4 tablespoons butter, bourbon, and syrup and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. As soon as the sauce is boiling, pour it over the sweet potatoes.
- Bake the casserole, basting and turning the potatoes occasionally, until the sweet potatoes are soft and tender, 45 to 60 minutes. Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper.
Recipe excerpted from Bon Appétit, Y’All: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking, Revised and Updated, with New Recipes by Virginia Willis, photography by Ellen Silverman. Garden & Gun has an affiliate partnership with Bookshop.org and may receive a portion of sales when a reader clicks to buy a book. All books are independently selected by the G&G editorial team.