How to Roast Sweet Potatoes (and Other Root Vegetables) in the Embers

METHOD: Roasting in the embers

Long before there were grills, people cooked with live fire and they did so right in the embers. Roasting in the embers is a cooking technique especially well suited for root vegetables, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, onions, and beets. When you roast a vegetable in the coals, you sacrifice the exterior, but in the process of charring, you give the flesh inside an irresistible smoke flavor. Potatoes and yams emerge from the coals light and fluffy and beets and onions become incredibly sweet.