Old-Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie

› WASHINGTON, DC, 2007...................

This old-fashioned sliced sweet potato pie is one of my favorites. No milk, no eggs, no cream, no custard—just beautiful sweet potatoes, a little sugar and butter, and my favorite pie crust made with lard and butter.

The pie is one of two traditional sweet potato pies that were popular not only in America but also in England long before printed recipes for them appeared. It’s unfathomable that the custard pie became so popular while this simpler, more elegant pie didn’t. If you are a lover of sweet potatoes, as I am, then this is the pie for you! If you are avoiding dairy products, other than butter, this pie fits the bill. And if you are in the mood for a seasonal, not-too-sweet dessert, try this lovely creation that cookbook authors have been presenting for nearly two hundred years, though I think the recipe has disappeared for periods of time only because it was misunderstood, since many of the older recipes called for potatoes, when sweet potatoes were meant.