Sweet-potato pies are common in Southern and Black homes on special occasions, especially Thanksgiving.
Jose Luis Pelaez Inc
My family holiday dinners were for a long time just me, my mom and my dad. While we had our favourite reoccurring dishes, there wasn’t much else. “tradition”Food was always involved. My mom always did the cooking during the holidays, with one exception — my dad’s sweet-potato pies.
Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, he would make three to four pies using a recipe that his mother had taught him.
Sweet-potato Pie is a classic at many African-American family gatherings and has been around for generations.
It was always a pleasure to watch my dad in the kitchen. As a child I remember watching him create every pie and not knowing the process.
He is a simple man, so his recipe is very straightforward. He stated that because his family was not able to afford complex recipes, they kept them simple. My dad doesn’t like complicated dishes.
My mom died in 2005, and it became harder for my dad to continue the tradition. He hasn’t made sweet-potato pies in almost a decade.
This made me think that pie-making could be a good activity for us both, and a way to preserve the tradition.
This foolproof recipe takes approximately one hour to make. Because of its simplicity, you can easily adjust the quantities to your liking and alter the ingredients.