“Tradition” is the first word that comes to mind when I think of Thanksgiving. Every family to some degree, has those few specific dishes that became synonymous with their feast over time. There may be a dessert from a decade ago that was really popular and just stuck around year after year, or a simple country biscuit recipe in heirloom cast iron that has been passed down for generations and is grandfathered indefinitely. I like to think of a Thanksgiving spread as a sort of edible ofrenda; where we pay tribute to those no longer with us while still carrying on with tradition as if they were. It’s a way for the deceased to join the rest of the family one more time at the table as if they were amongst us again. Recipes are a sort of legacy or instruction manual that we leave behind once our hands are no longer there to knead the dough, add the marshmallow fluff, or carve the ceremonial bird.
Whether you are celebrating with relatives or bee-bopping nomadically while participating in various “Friendsgiving” shenanigans, chances are you have a favorite dish that needs to be consumed at some point that day. There’s always that one dish or “lil sumthin’- sumthin’” that resonates in my soul and lingers in the deep recesses of my cerebral cortex, staying dormant until around Halloween when I go into meal-planning mode. I have this quirk regarding cranberry sauce. I HAVE to have the real stuff. It’s also referred to as “relish” for some reason unbeknownst to me. The sight of the smooth stuff still shaped like the can once it’s out of the can, quite honestly gives me shivers. But I’m no man to “yuck someone’s yum” if that’s their preference. I’m just saying, if I’m going to be there… I’m bringing cranberry relish, so you better make room on the table for it.
A new dessert crossed my radar the year of 2018 when a co-worker by the name of Bill Rose brought in a sweet potato pie his mother Carol Labrie-Rose had baked the night before. Growing up in the south, I was familiar with sweet potato pie but it was never a staple at my family’s dinner table. I was raised on a doctored-up canned pumpkin pie with Cool-Whip and I was absolutely fine with that. That is, until I took a bite of Mrs. Rose’s sweet potato pie. What had I been missing all these years?! It had the same eggy, creamy texture as my humble pie, but it was a little darker and much heavier on the spice. It’s almost as if my pumpkin guy went on a stroll through Harlem and pulled an all-nighter at the Apollo. THIS PIE HAD SOUL… much like the woman who made it. I wasn’t writing at the time I tried this pie, but I remember saying to Bill “PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS PIE, DUDE.”
I only had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Rose a few times, but I can say she was even spicier than the pies that came out of her kitchen. She was never one to hold her tongue if you crossed her, but also loved her family just as ferociously.
As good as that pie was, Carol Labrie-Rose’s true legacy was as a trailblazing woman of color in the fashion industry as early as the 1960’s, alongside such names as Naomi Sims and Barbara Cheeseborough. She was the muse for haute couture fashion designer Kenzo Takada in Paris during the early 1970’s. Carol’s biggest and most significant contribution to the modeling world was when she landed the cover of Vogue Italia in 1971 as the first African-American to do so.
With the permission and assistance of her son Bill, I would like to pay it forward by sharing Mrs. Rose’s recipe with you all in the hopes that she can maybe be a part of your Thanksgiving ofrenda this year. Cheers!
Pie Filling: one 9-in. Pie; 8 servings
2.5 cups of freshly cooked sweet potatoes; mashed
3 large eggs; whisked separately
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sweetened/condensed milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
1/3 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pie Shell:
For this article, I used a Pillsbury ready-made crust found in my grocer’s freezer section. For a more elaborate pie crust, please refer to the butter crust recipe in my 1381 Apple Pie article in The Berkshire Edge.
Preparation:
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Using an electric hand mixer, mix together all pie filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl until they are smooth with no lumps. Pour into the still-frozen pie shell. The filling will rise higher than the crust in the oven but will later fall beneath the edge as it cools. Place pie with filling in oven on middle rack. Set timer for 10 minutes. The high heat initially will help the pie set up. After 10 minutes, set oven to 375 and check the pie after 35 minutes. With a knife, test the center of the pie; there should be little to no filling sticking to the knife. Egg wash the crust for the last 5 minutes to give the pie edge a nice shine.
Once pie is done, remove from oven and leave on the counter to cool for a few hours, then transfer to the fridge to firm up.
