Fried Yams with Five Spice Maple Bacon Candy

Deep Run Roots

I was pretty skeptical of these. Candied yams were never my thing -- I'd always choose sweet potato casserole for my holiday table instead. Can this change my mind?

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[00:00]: [Music]
[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:06]: with Heather today we're working from
[00:10]: deep run roots we've done a lot of
[00:11]: recipes out of here but there are tons
[00:13]: so today we're making fried yams with
[00:17]: five-spice maple bacon candy we've had a
[00:21]: bunch of sweet potatoes still to use up
[00:24]: so that's what I'm doing with these mine
[00:26]: were a little bit small so my disks are
[00:28]: kind of small anyway I went ahead and
[00:35]: took care of all of my ingredients and
[00:37]: got them all prepped so that we can do
[00:39]: this relatively quickly it wasn't wasn't
[00:41]: that difficult I have my sweet potatoes
[00:43]: that have been peeled and sliced into
[00:47]: 1-inch rounds so that's what we're gonna
[00:51]: deal with first but everything else is
[00:54]: goes into the maple bacon candy so I
[00:58]: have my bacon thick-cut baitin bacon
[01:01]: that cut smoked bacon sliced into 1-inch
[01:06]: pieces I'll kind of take these apart as
[01:10]: I put them in the pan later
[01:11]: I've got a ginger root that I peeled
[01:15]: it's really easy to just kind of peel it
[01:18]: with a spoon just like the edge of a
[01:20]: spoon that's what I do
[01:21]: and then sliced thinly as thinly as I
[01:24]: could with just my knife
[01:28]: some lemon juice fresh squeezed lemon
[01:31]: juice now this is the Chinese five spice
[01:34]: blend I'm not sure what spices are in it
[01:39]: but whatever you can find
[01:41]: oh it's anise cinnamon star anise cloves
[01:45]: ginger and then soul fighting agents
[01:50]: that's all that's in this so you could
[01:51]: make this yourself if you have those
[01:52]: ingredients but I just bought them and
[01:55]: then maple syrup I've got my water
[01:58]: boiling over here and we're gonna go
[01:60]: ahead and boil the sweet potatoes to get
[02:05]: this started
[02:06]: be right back got some boiling water
[02:09]: here
[02:10]: and I'm gonna do is drop my potatoes in
[02:13]: she doesn't say to do these and batches
[02:16]: we'll see if they all fit hope so
[02:30]: bring back the boil
[02:38]: there we go these need to boil for eight
[02:42]: to ten minutes we are not looking for
[02:44]: fully cooked I think she said you want
[02:47]: him to be firm with a little bit of give
[02:50]: so I've got a fork here and when I test
[02:53]: them with after eight minutes I'm going
[02:55]: to test the small ones and we'll see
[02:58]: okay so I've started testing some of the
[03:01]: smaller ones and I think they're done so
[03:03]: I'm just going to start it's a little
[03:04]: bit before my 8 minute mark but I'm
[03:06]: gonna start pulling out them sort of by
[03:08]: size and testing them a little bit you
[03:12]: see that one coming a little bit it's
[03:16]: probably just where the knife caught an
[03:18]: edge and see the my fork goes through
[03:22]: them but not quite not easily so they're
[03:26]: still firm I'm just taking out the small
[03:29]: ones and I'm putting them on this baking
[03:30]: sheet
[03:31]: there's my timer because that's what she
[03:38]: says to do and we're gonna chill them
[03:40]: before we fry them up later we just need
[03:45]: to let these cool until they're cool
[03:47]: enough to handle and then we're going to
[03:50]: sort of press them so we're waiting for
[03:52]: them to cool a little bit and I will get
[03:54]: ready for the next step now while we're
[03:58]: waiting for our sweet potatoes to cool
[04:01]: enough for us to handle I'm gonna start
[04:04]: the bacon cooking because that's gonna
[04:05]: take a little while I have a 10-inch
[04:09]: skillet fried paint a pan set over
[04:14]: medium heat currently I might put it up
[04:17]: a little bit higher and I'm just gonna
[04:18]: sort of pull the pieces apart as I put
[04:21]: them in otherwise we kind of tend to
[04:22]: stick together and I don't want that to
[04:25]: happen
[04:26]: looking for separate pieces of bacon and
[04:29]: easier
[04:34]: [Music]
[04:50]: [Music]
[04:57]: get something ready for that in just a
[04:59]: minute so now I'm gonna check on these
[05:03]: [Music]
[05:04]: they're definitely cooling up the handle
[05:07]: now and what I have here and it's gonna
[05:09]: be hard for you guys to see but I have a
[05:13]: piece of parchment paper folded over and
[05:17]: I'm going to press this flap to flatten
[05:22]: it a little bit she says you want the
[05:25]: edges to sort of bow out a little and
[05:28]: maybe be about 2/3 of an inch thick
[05:31]: instead of the inch thick that we
[05:32]: started with they're a lot thinner than
[05:34]: that in here but I don't know we'll see
[05:37]: I hope it doesn't just collapse
[05:44]: a little bit of collapsing want to
[05:49]: probably be a little more gentle when we
[05:52]: get a few of the smaller pieces here
[06:05]: some of them are gonna fall apart it
[06:07]: looks like and some of them aren't
[06:09]: though I'm gonna keep doing that while I
[06:13]: watch the bacon win all that stunt so
[06:20]: Bacon's still cooking I did bring in my
[06:22]: assistant because he really wanted to
[06:25]: try smashing these so these are a little
[06:26]: bit more smashed or his mine were mostly
[06:29]: a little bit less smash because I didn't
[06:30]: want to smash them too much we're gonna
[06:31]: try on both ways and see how it turns
[06:34]: out but these are gonna go in the
[06:35]: refrigerator now until we're ready to
[06:37]: fry them up okay so the bacon is
[06:40]: starting to get close to where I would
[06:42]: want it it's hard to tell it because
[06:44]: it's kind of bubbly in the pan but I'm
[06:47]: gonna go ahead and take it out cause I
[06:49]: think we're getting start we're getting
[06:50]: close to crispy so I'm going to take
[06:52]: this out and then we I'm going to pour
[06:57]: out all of the bacon grease and put back
[06:60]: only the amount that we are supposed to
[07:03]: have in there for the next step which is
[07:05]: to start making the maple part of this
[07:10]: so I'm going to pour out all of this
[07:11]: bacon grease which is quite a bit
[07:20]: because I I do not do a very good job of
[07:26]: estimating oil or whatever in my pan so
[07:30]: I'm gonna measure it so that's what
[07:37]: we're supposed to have in there and the
[07:40]: next thing I add the ginger and we're
[07:42]: gonna let it cook for about 30 seconds
[07:45]: yep just let it cook for about 30
[07:48]: seconds to start
[07:59]: all right that's been about 30 seconds
[08:02]: now I add the five-spice powder so try
[08:08]: not to overdo it because I my spoon
[08:11]: won't fit in there I think that's good
[08:14]: and then we're gonna toast this until it
[08:20]: becomes quite fragrant
[08:29]: which it certainly is becoming quite
[08:31]: fragrant very quickly I think smell the
[08:40]: cinnamon for sure and that's only about
[08:45]: 10 seconds so I think we're done and now
[08:46]: I'm going to add the maple syrup
[08:56]: all right now this we need to bring it
[09:01]: up to a boil and then we're going to let
[09:03]: it cook down by about a third which she
[09:09]: does not give timing for but so that is
[09:13]: what I'm going to do and what this maple
[09:15]: syrup cook with the spices in it until
[09:18]: it has reduced as much as I need it to
[09:21]: and we'll be right back all right so
[09:25]: this has been cooking for about four
[09:27]: minutes I'm gonna call it reduced enough
[09:29]: and now we add just wiped out my
[09:34]: tablespoon
[09:35]: we're add some lemon juice and we add
[09:42]: the bacon back in and then it is pretty
[09:45]: much done and all you have to do is
[09:47]: bring it back up to a simmer just before
[09:50]: you serve it so go ahead and add my
[09:54]: bacon
[10:03]: there we go
[10:05]: so now we've got our maple bacon candy
[10:08]: and I'm going to just keep this on low
[10:11]: heat to keep it warm and when we are
[10:16]: ready to eat after we fry up the sweet
[10:21]: potatoes we'll bring this back up to a
[10:24]: simmer be back in a bit when we're ready
[10:28]: to fry it's been a little while I've got
[10:32]: my cold sweet potatoes here and I've got
[10:35]: a 12-inch
[10:37]: heavy bottomed skillet I went with my
[10:39]: cast iron though that is not required
[10:42]: for this recipe heating over medium heat
[10:45]: pretty sure she says medium yes and to
[10:50]: see if this is ready you're supposed to
[10:53]: pinch off a little piece and see it put
[10:56]: it in the oil pinch off a little piece
[10:60]: put it in the oil and see if it sizzles
[11:02]: and if it does you're ready to cook not
[11:05]: sizzling so we have to wait a few
[11:07]: minutes
[11:11]: while waiting I wanted to tell you I
[11:14]: wanted to taste the bacon candy and the
[11:18]: first thing I took out it tried to get a
[11:20]: small piece and it was the piece of the
[11:21]: ginger yeah I decided I was gonna take
[11:26]: that ginger out you may want to take the
[11:30]: ginger out before you put the bacon in
[11:34]: that would be easier than trying to go
[11:36]: through all of it it's just if you don't
[11:37]: like if you don't want to get a surprise
[11:40]: bite of ginger which is just there's a
[11:42]: little bit you know extra pungent shall
[11:46]: we say if you could taste it and if you
[11:49]: liked it leave it in if you don't take
[11:51]: it out but that's what I would suggest I
[11:52]: went ahead and took it out because I
[11:54]: knew if my kids got a piece of that they
[11:56]: would not enjoy it and probably will
[11:59]: refuse to eat it at all after that so I
[12:05]: had to turn it off because it was still
[12:07]: simmering even on low heat so I'll turn
[12:10]: it back on when we're about ready here
[12:13]: have my how much you can see i scooted
[12:18]: all my sweet potatoes over to one side
[12:21]: and just put some paper towels on the
[12:23]: other side so they are done I will put
[12:27]: them on paper towels so so I'm going to
[12:31]: gently place these in the oil and try to
[12:34]: make sure that they are not crowded and
[12:38]: that's what I'm doing I'm gonna do and
[12:40]: we're gonna fry them up so
[12:46]: still not sure it's hot enough because
[12:50]: that didn't sizzle when I put it in
[12:51]: there so all right we're gonna try it
[12:54]: again all right that's that help I like
[13:01]: that better it's is Alea soon as I put
[13:03]: it in there crowd them
[13:16]: and I'm gonna watch the clock try to go
[13:19]: about 30 minutes 30 minutes about six
[13:23]: minutes and then we'll check it's been
[13:29]: about 6 minutes I'm going to test the
[13:31]: first one and see if it is brown enough
[13:35]: on this side gently definitely pretty
[13:41]: pretty brown well if it's as brown as me
[13:43]: you know is that's the picture the
[13:46]: picture looks almost black very dark but
[13:48]: I'm gonna go ahead and turn these over
[13:51]: and we'll see how they go about another
[13:57]: six minutes and probably a few will be
[13:59]: done and a couple of these I'll
[14:01]: definitely turn over and a little bit
[14:05]: before we decide they're ready so I'm
[14:34]: gonna take a couple of them out because
[14:36]: I think they're done and this is sort of
[14:38]: like each one will be a little bit
[14:39]: different probably but the only thing
[14:42]: you have to do is make sure you salt
[14:45]: both sides after you take them out while
[14:48]: they're still pops so I'm gonna do that
[14:50]: while I fry everything up
[14:57]: okay all done frying all done salt and
[15:03]: that's what they look like so we're
[15:05]: gonna serve them up and let you know
[15:07]: what we think
[15:08]: [Music]
[15:19]: on this episode of cooking the books
[15:22]: with Heather you watched me make fried
[15:24]: yams with five-spice maple bacon candy
[15:28]: this recipe was we thought it was
[15:32]: absolutely delicious my children don't
[15:34]: like sweet potatoes unless they are
[15:36]: roasted whatever they enjoyed the
[15:40]: candied bacon and ate all of that and
[15:42]: then didn't love the sweet potatoes I do
[15:46]: have to say the sweet potatoes were best
[15:49]: where they were sort of crunch here at
[15:53]: the edges where you had smashed them so
[15:55]: when I reheated the leftovers I smashed
[15:59]: them a little bit more - and then
[16:01]: refried them so those crispy bits around
[16:05]: the edges sort of charred crispy bits at
[16:10]: the edges when you smash them as much as
[16:12]: you should I I was a little hesitant to
[16:15]: smash them perhaps as much as I should
[16:19]: that was the best part
[16:20]: those with the maple syrup which is
[16:24]: super sweet I think I over reduced mine
[16:27]: a little bit it got a little sticky
[16:29]: especially when I reheated it the second
[16:32]: time to finish up the leftovers but
[16:36]: really really good doesn't require too
[16:41]: much special equipment you are sort of
[16:44]: frying which is always kind of a pain
[16:47]: but the shallow frying that you do for
[16:51]: these is not that bad but it does
[16:55]: require two treatments of the potatoes
[16:57]: so you first you boil them and you kind
[16:58]: of have to be careful that you don't
[16:60]: over cook them and then you fry them so
[17:02]: that was a bit I require some judgment
[17:07]: so but she still has a really good knot
[17:13]: definition a description of what you're
[17:15]: looking for and so and timing and that
[17:18]: timing was pretty pretty true to my
[17:21]: sweet potatoes in the way I had them
[17:23]: sliced and and everything so that was
[17:25]: great so yeah it was I think this would
[17:30]: be a crowd-pleaser
[17:32]: and if you enjoyed watching me cook this
[17:35]: please hit the thumbs up button come
[17:39]: back next week and watch me cook
[17:40]: something else
[17:42]: [Music]