pumpkin or sweet potato pie??

18 years ago

I'm going to make a pie for Thanksgiving at work (yes, I have to work!) and I was wondering which one you prefer. I may even have to cheat on my diet and try a slice! (Still no meat though!) I haven't baked in almost a month and it's driving me crazy. I just want to make sure the mixer remembers how to do its job. :o)

I have always brought pumpkin pie in and it goes over very well. I just use the Libby's recipe, I don't think anyone else uses any other recipe unless they add cream cheese to the mix. But, what a about sweet potato? People say they are similar, but do you prefer one over the other? I haven't made one since I was 15 and I remember it being very "stringy". What's the best way to eliminate the "strings"? Push the mash through a sieve? Thanks!

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Comments (22)

centralcacyclist
18 years ago
I'm a pumpkin pie lover but I'm on the West Coast. I think the preference for one or the other might be somewhat regional. I have tried sweet potato pie and was really looking forward to it but it didn't deliver for me! And I love sweet potatoes. I think it's that expectancy thing, I was seeing pumpkin pie because they look alike. My mouth told me differently. It was okay. I'm sure the recipe had something to do with it, too.
sigh
18 years ago
Sweet potato! I always make both since my husband loves pumpkin but I have a recipe for sweet potato spice rack pie that's killer. I like to add a healthy dollop of bourbon to the pie as well. Bake the taters until they ooze, cool, peel & run them through the food processor. Not a string to be found.

Nina
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You know, I think our traditional Thanksgiving meal is about as close as we get to indigenous food, right? The wild turkeys were here when the first Puritans arrived. The native Americans were raising corn and squash and beans, I think, and sunflowers as well, which was a major vegetable protein source for them via the seeds which are easy to preserve. Cranberries are native in some parts of the country, and so is wild rice. So, all those ingredients are more or less indigenous American foods. Maybe one problem is that our nation is so large geographicaly, so we do have more regionalized "America food" depending on what foods are readily available in each region instead of a well-known "American" cuisine. For example, if you grew up in Boston, you might argue that lobster and Boston baked beans are true American cuisine, but if you grew up in Georgia or South Carolina, maybe you'd insist it was barbeque, baked beans, cornbread and grits. I was thinking about what kind of native food a forager would find growing naturally here in Oklahoma....there's wild game, of course, and wild blackberries and wild grapes here in southern OK, and some of you probably have wild huckleberries or currants in some eastern parts of the state that we don't have here. Here in southern OK, we have the wild prickley pears (you can make jelly from them) and native pecans and walnuts, and persimmons. There's also several kinds of wild plums, and you can fish in the Red River for catfish. Dorothy, I think I am going to grow peanuts next year so we can make our own peanut butter without all the additives. I remember having a Mr. Peanut machine when I was a little kid....you put the peanuts in his hat and turned the handle and got peanut butter (a peanut paste probably would be a better description). It was simple, so it seems like it'd be simple to make homemade peanut butter in the food processor or blender. Carol, I love all those old Southern Living recipe books...they are my kind of cooking! Another great cookbook full of old-style southern cooking is Fannie Flagg's Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook, which came out at about the same time that her book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, was made into the movie of the same name. If my grandmother and southern aunts had written a cookbook of the foods they prepared their entire lives, it would have been very, very similar to Fannie Flagg's cookbook. Dawn
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ChickenCoupe, I would say that the orange looking small sweet potatoes were probably the Beauregard, though I am not an expert, I have never seen any white looking ones. Of course I bought the one's that I raised at the grocery store to make slips so do not know what kind they are for sure. I have read post that state they didn't like the Beauregards or that they were not as sweet as other kinds. But I have read that the Beauregards are famous for they're turn out. But if they are not sweet enough a little sugar can help that. A little dark brown sugar or molasses can is fantastic. I believe sometimes the soil has something to do with the way things taste. I know it does with watermelon & cantaloupe, as they will seem to taste sweeter if raised on sandy land than on dirt natured soil. Sweet potatoes may be the same way. I think onions taste different on different types of soil as some are more stronger tasting on some soils than others. But like I said that is just my opinion. And it doesn't count for much.
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AM, there was an episode of Trading Spouses or some such foolishness on year or two ago that made me thing of several of you. DH ran into the house with "OMG, OMG, we HAVE to watch this!" We haven't watched TV in years; the only reason we had one was to watch movies. But he insisted we HAD to watch this show. They sent a woman from near where we lived (whose something like third cousin worked with DH) to just outside Boston and they sent the Boston mans wife to BFE Kentucky. Did I forget to mention the Boston family kept Kosher? We weren't five minutes into this show and I was already muttering "She's going to STARVE TO DEATH! There is NO kosher food in KY! I know. I've looked!" Sure enough, the poor woman ended up having to order food from some 800 number and have it FedExed to her. Meanwhile the woman sent to Bsoton made me want to crawl under a rock. I think that's when we made up our minds that we had to move. BTW, I am thoroughly enjoying your blog. OK, Sales. I've got Wal-Mart, Smiths, Raleys and Scolaris nearby. Of course Wal-mart will be cheapest. Fortunately, I don't have a flyer from them, so I can completely ignore that they exist. Raley's is in the middle, so I'll use theirs. Turkey .97 lb (Chase, how many do you want? Think I can get them through an airport?) Free Range ASH-free - $1.99 lb 12 ok dinner rolls - 2.49 Yams - 1.49 lb Russets - 2 lbs/$1.00 Frozen peas - 16 oz $1.39 Cranberries - 2.49 per bag (what's with THAT!) House brand butter - $2 per pound Pumpkin pie - 4.99 Hmmm... in the bakery there's a Cranberry Apple with Pine Nuts stuffig mix for 4.99. That actually sounds pretty good.
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centralcacyclist
18 years ago
Okay Nina, time to pony up that recipe! Any dessert with bourbon in it has my name all over it.
lyndaluu2
18 years ago
It's pumpkin pie here. I've had sweet potato pie but I love, love pumpkin pie.

Linda P
sigh
18 years ago
Barnmom- I'm a firm believer that bourbon can improve just about anything (whether applied directy to the food, or to the individual). I'll post the recipe tomorrow, I've got it safe at home (from the El Paso Chile Company cookbook- there isn't a bad, or healthy, recipe in that thing). Bourbon just lends itself to fall baking!

Nina
User
18 years ago
Sweet potato ... :)
kframe19
18 years ago
Doesn't matter. As long as it's properly spiced (lots of cinnamon and nutmeg) I'll go into a feeding frenzy on either one!
glenda_al
18 years ago
Sweet potato is my favorite!
annie1992
18 years ago
Here it's definitely pumpkin pie, I also use the Libby's recipe and have for years. Sweet potatoes are served as a side dish, covered with brown sugar and marshmallows, LOL.

Last year I made a pumpkin cheesecake and barely escaped my family's wrath. (grin) This year it's been made clear to me that there WILL be pumpkin pie.

Annie
Terri_PacNW
18 years ago
I make both. And I just mash the baked SwTaters well..

Nina, I'll look forward to a read of that recipe as well!
Hubby would love it with a bit of Jim Beam in it..
centralcacyclist
18 years ago
Annie, I wouldn't get away with pumpkin cheesecake, either. There WILL be pie (Though I'm not entirely sure I'll be making it from scratch, and a sweet potato casserole. Alice WANTS the one with the marshmallows.
cooperbailey
18 years ago
Gotta be punkin pie for Thanksgiving at our house,as well as mince pie. And pecan pie. No such thing as too much pie. Sue
Lars
18 years ago
I much prefer pumpkin - I really don't like sweet potatoes and generally never eat them.

I use fresh ginger when I make pumpkin pie, and it really improves the flavor dramatically. Ginger is my favorite spice to have with pumpkin. I generally decrease the amount of cinnamon, but I do like clove with it also.

However, this year I'm making lime pies because I have limes, and I will be doing the same at Christmas.

Lars
beanthere_dunthat
18 years ago
I see a regional divide here. LOL!

Oddly enough, neither was tradtional with our family. We had sweet potatoes as a side dish, and seldom pumpkin anything. We usually had pecan, egg (not as bad as it sounds), and apple pies, fruitcake and either coconut, bourbon or Lane cake.

But I like both pumpkin and sweet potoato pie. And I really like pumpkin cheesecake!
daylilydayzed
18 years ago
Here in Lakeland we like sweet potatoes baked. I use the same amount of sweet potatoes in place of pumpkin to make the sweet potato pie. I use the same recipe for both, I just switch the pumpkin with the sweet potatoes to make a sweet potato pie. I am going to have both at this Thanksgiving day dinner. It will not last long with my hubby, oldest son and myself chowing down on them.
dgkritch
18 years ago
Love pumpkin pie, but make Acorn or Butternut squash pies too. Figures........I can't pick from the available choices......story of my life! (grin)

Deanna
scott55405
18 years ago
Annie, thank you for clearing up the proper method of sweet potato preparation!

I know many like sweet potato or both, I like my sweet potatoes as a side and pumpkin for the pie (or cheesecake, or cake, or bars, or bread, or cookies, or...I like pumpkin!)

I think for a work function particularly I'd go with pumpkin though.
alison
18 years ago
Sweet potato pie, absolutely no question. When I was a small child we dwelt in the dark, and ate pumpkin pie, not knowing any better.

But then we moved to Cincinnati, and kind cooks took my mother in hand and taught her the ways of sweet potato pie. Whiles she has continued to ascend as a cook, we have all revelled in the spiritual purity and light of sweet potato pie ever since. No more of the slab o'pumpkin for us!

In all seriousness, I find the tastes have some similarities, but the texture of sweet potato pie is much lighter and creamier than pumpkin, which just seems too dense, too grainy for me.
Pieonear
18 years ago
I prefer Sweet Potate Pie. It seems lighter and smoother but we have a brand new DIL and she loves Pumpkin so I'll make Pumpkin to butter her up. LOL She's worth it.
sigh
18 years ago
beanthere- you could be right...it could be regional. The first time I had ever tasted sweet potato pie was courtesy of a woman from the south. One of the enterprising guys at work had a mother who had a little side business making pies. He brought some into work for everyone to taste & as a way to drum up more business. The sweet potato was divine & I promptly decided that I had to make some of my own. Enter this recipe, courtesy of the El Paso Chile Company's Texas Border Cookbook:

Sweet Potato Spice Rack Pie

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 1/4 lbs total)
3 eggs
1 c packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground corriander
3/4 c whipping cream
1/2 c half & half
3 tbs bourbon
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 unbaked 9" pie shell, chilled (I use Oronoque- oh the shame of it!)

preheat the oven to 400 F. Pierece each sweet potato twice with the tines of a fork & bake unti; very tender, about 1 hour. Cool them to room temp, peel them & mash enough sweet potato to equal 1 3/4 cups.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven & set a baking sheet on the rack. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a food processor combine the sweet potato, eggs and all of the spices and process briefly. Add the whipping cream, half & half, bourbon & vanilla & process again, pausing to scrape the work bowl, until smooth.

Pour the filling into the pie shell, set it on the heated baking sheet and bake 45-50 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a rack before cutting.

You can serve each slice topped with a dollop of lightly sweetened, bourbon spiked cream but it's delicious unadorned.

Nina
Terri_PacNW
18 years ago
Thanks Nina..c/p'd!

Hubby swears that you can't make a sweet potato with the same recipe as Pumpkin..He says the seasonings aren't the same..He makes it from scratch, with no recipe..but then again..he's not made his own pie in oh 10-15 years! LOL (Probably forgot what to put in it anyway!)
centralcacyclist
18 years ago
That recipe looks wonderfully spicy. Thanks! Saved.

pumpkin or sweet potato pie??

Comments (22)

centralcacyclist

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