Ought to cranberry sauce be canned or do-it-yourself? Ought to turkey be dry-rubbed or wet-brined? These are simply a few the Thanksgiving debates we’ve tackled right here at Bon Appétit. And this 12 months, we’re breaking down one other: Ought to candy potato casserole have marshmallows or nuts on prime?
And the way did marshmallows land on the Thanksgiving desk to start with? Within the nineteenth century, glazed and candied candy potatoes made their debut as vacation sides. Then in 1917, recipe developer Janet McKenzie Hill revealed the primary recipe for candy potato casserole—which, sure, featured marshmallows on prime. The recipe was really commissioned by a sweet firm as a scheme to promote marshmallows. The extra you understand!
Advertising ploy apart, I can’t think about Thanksgiving with out the marshmallow-topped casserole. My grandma used to make the casserole with canned yams, blitzed within the blender and topped with a puffy coat of marshmallows. As a child with an aversion to greens, I didn’t thoughts that this dish teetered towards dessert territory. Even now that I’m keen to eat inexperienced beans, the candy and nostalgic casserole gives a welcome foil to turkey, gravy, and mac and cheese.
Many argue that marshmallows don’t have any place on the Thanksgiving desk. Loads of cooks, significantly within the American South, prime the casserole with toasty pecans and buttery brown sugar streusel, as in Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock’s candy potato casserole recipe from The Reward of Southern Cooking. The craggy nuts add pops of crunch to the spoonable casserole.
Although I’m not keen to surrender the marshmallows—I simply can’t—I’ll admit that the candy potato casserole I grew up with lacked textural distinction. Silky candy potatoes and gooey marshmallows are begging for a crisp part. The straightforward resolution could be topping the casserole with each marshmallows and pecans, which plenty of individuals do. The issue is I’m allergic to tree nuts, as are almost 4 million People. So I got down to discover a nut-free approach to carry a crunchy issue to my favourite Thanksgiving aspect.
Because it turned out, the fast repair was already in my cereal cupboard. Impressed by Milk Bar founder and cookbook creator Christina Tosi, who makes use of cornflakes in all types of baking recipes, I all the time hold a field round. With their earthy-sweet taste and chemically engineered crispiness, cornflakes add a pop of textural distinction to snickerdoodles and corny brown butter cake. So why not use them as a casserole topping?
