Recipes

Brown Sweet Potatoes

Recipe No. 632 from the U.S. Army's WWII cookbook — Vegetables. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Army TM10-412 · Side Dish · Vegetable

Serves 100 servings, approximately 2 halves per serving.

Recipe No. 632 from the U.S. Army’s WWII cookbook — Vegetables. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Ingredients

  • Potatoes, sweet — 40 to 50 pounds
  • Salt — as needed
  • Water, boiling — as needed
  • Sugar, brown — 1 pound (1 mess kit cup)
  • Salt — 3 ounces (6 mess kit spoons)
  • Butter or bacon fat — 1 pound (½ No. 56 dipper)

Directions

Key ingredients

Bacon Grease

  1. Wash sweet potatoes.
  2. Cover sweet potatoes with boiling salted water. Cover and heat to boiling; reduce heat and simmer until tender. Drain; cool and peel.
  3. Cut potatoes into halves lengthwise or into slices crosswise, ¼ inch thick.
  4. Place in baking pans; sprinkle with sugar and salt.
  5. Place pieces of butter or pour melted bacon fat over potatoes.
  6. Bake in moderate oven (375° F.) about 1 hour or until brown.

Notes

SCALED TO 8 SERVINGS (the original is ÷12.5): Potatoes, sweet — 3¼ to 50 pounds Salt — to taste Water, boiling — to taste Sugar, brown — 1¼ oz Salt — about 1½ tsp Butter or bacon fat — 1¼ oz

— TM 10-412, Army Recipes (War Department, 15 August 1944), recipe No. 632, Vegetables. Army measures: 1 No. 56 dipper = 1 qt; 1 No. 55 dipper = 1¾ qt; 1 mess kit cup = 1½ pints.