Ok guys, but I am expecting something back...
Let's talk candied yams.. Start these at the beginning of the day so they will have a chance to reach room temp after the first bake.
Ok, put away your can openers... As usual, there is no exact measure here or written word... But just remember: The word of the day is 'decadent'..
Get some garnet yams from the store, amount relative to party size. Oh, and get a fresh pineapple while you are there.
Peel the yams and cut out any impurities. There is enough perfect yam in the world that this should be done guilt free. If you have a worm farm, even better.
Shuck and core the pineapple. Take about half of the pineapple (for a good sized dish), put it in a blender and liquify. You can add about 2 or 3 TBSP of melted sweet cream butter, and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract (the real stuff, Ebenezer
) and any other liquid flavoring* to help with the liquifying. Add small amounts of hot water to the blender just until it's rippin'. Pour the resulting sauce in a pot (I use a very large stainless bowl and just drop it on top of a pot of hot water). When the sauce is hot pour in about 3 TBSP honey of your choice, brown sugar and half as much white sugar. As far as amounts go, you can do this by taste, just like I do. Start off with a 1/2 cup brown and take it from there. The word of the day is... Don't be shy. We want sweet. Then we add spices. I add cinnamon, cloves, allspice and fresh ground nutmeg to taste. Some folks don't care for heavy clove.. Now it gets fun.. To the sauce I add about half a bag of miniatures and stir until melted in. De-ca-dent! So, how's it taste? Does it need more cinnamon to you? Fix it! Pull off about 1/4 cup of the sauce and let cool completely.
Cut yams into bite size pieces. I would say anywhere between the 3/4 inch to 1 1/4 inch cube range. Heat your biggest skillet to medium and add enough butter to coat the pieces. Add yams and coat them in the butter.
So what were looking for here is carmalization,
not cooking. We want chewy yams and cooking them through now would leave us with mushy yams.
Add a very small pinch of salt. You can ommit the salt if you are somewhat health conscious, but then why are you even reading this??? Anyway, I have seen grandma use brown sugar here, but I like white. Maybe a handful. You don't have to add a ton, were just carmalizing. This is the first step to 'candying'. The idea is to pull as much moisture from the yam as possible. The sugar and pan heat start the process. When the pieces have browned well, take the yams from the pan and put them right into the bowl of sauce.
The baking temp is totally flexible here. One thing we've all found is that oven temps can vary throughout the day depending on what it is being used for. I have candied yams anywhere from 325 to 425, so they can be pretty forgiving. I prefer about 350.
Once you are ready for the bake pull the yams from the sauce with a slotted spoon into baking dish. If the batch is big enough, this might be right about the right amount of sauce to bake in. Once all the yams are in your baking vessel, take the 1/4 cup of sauce we let cool completely and add a good 2 TBSP corn starch and wisk in smooth (if you are making a small batch, this much corn starch might be way too much). Pour this mixture into the bowl of sauce and wisk again. Pour what sauce is needed to get the level up to about half as high as the yams. Put in the oven.
This is the second part of the candying process. The heat from the oven will finish cooking the yams and pull a good deal of moisture from them. Let the yams go for about 30 minutes, then pull from the oven. With a spatula, turn the yams over so what ever was on the bottom is now on top. Put back in oven. Back for another 60 to 90 minutes, turning the yams ever 20 minutes or so. Be very gentle with them, we want them whole. Add sauce as needed to keep the level up. If it gets too low and burns, you will be starting over. Keep an eye on the yams. We want them to be chewy and good, not dry and crunchy! Once done, take from the oven and allow to cool to room temp.
Marshmallows. Like Donkey said, gotta have 'em. Some people don't like them. I say just dig around underneath them, somebody's gonna come along and get the ones you pushed aside, promise! Once your yams have reached room temp, it is time for the final bake. Crank the oven up to 375 to 400. Cover the top of the yams with miniatures. Not too much as they may overflow, but I like lots! Everyone knows this is the best part! Well, here's how to do it right. By letting the yams cool first, we are assured that they will stick around perfectly until dinner is done! Don't worry, the yams will still be hot enough to eat, just not so hot the crispy delicious mallow topping melts into oblivion before dinner even starts. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the mallows are a perfect crunchy golden brown. Enjoy!
I am in a good mood. It's Sunday and I got a perfect buzz on. Sorry if this seems overly complicated. It's really not. If you are stoned and it still seems like too much, I came with backup... A recipe my ex used to make:
2 cans of yams
brown sugar
butter
marshmellows.
Apply in that order. Bake for 30 minutes @ 350.
Mmmmmmmm... Sounds just delightful, don't it?
*"and any other liquid flavoring" (rum). There are a lot of things you can add here (like rum). Really, the choice is yours (try rum).
Really, I like rum as a flavoring. I just can't seem to get anybody to like it with me! So it usually stays on the shelf. I don't get it. Making something with chocolate? Rum. Cake? Rum. Coconut egg nog custard? Yup. Pumpkin pie? Let me tell ya. You have not lived until you try my Rumkin pie with a caramel glaze and fresh, home made egg nog ice cream. Hoo buddy!
And no! I ain't spell checking this. Deal with it.
