Sweet Potato Mostarda

Deep Run Roots

I've never had a mostarda before, and I've never made a pickled sweet potato, or any pickle for that matter. This should be interesting...

Shockingly I found some of this recipe (at least the ingredients, with measurements) in the google books preview for Deep Run Roots: https://books.google.com/books?id=jRTyCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT521&lpg=PT521&dq=sweet+potato+mostarda+recipe+deep+run+roots&source=bl&ots=XA8qtFDGNS&sig=ACfU3U1KbSCxyFWRpE3YohkH9VL3t9Yi7w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwik1t2hotnkAhVpdt8KHfKODpIQ6AEwDHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=sweet%20potato%20mostarda%20recipe%20deep%20run%20roots&f=false

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[00:04]: hi guys and welcome to cooking the books
[00:06]: with Heather where I make recipes from
[00:08]: cookbooks so you can see how easy or
[00:10]: hard they might be today we're working
[00:13]: from deep run roots this is Vivian
[00:15]: Howard's cookbook she has a restaurant
[00:20]: in Kinston which is near where we live
[00:22]: in North Carolina and also had a TV show
[00:25]: on PBS called the chef's life and she
[00:27]: has a new TV show coming soon that she's
[00:30]: working on right now today we're gonna
[00:33]: be making sweet potato roast starta
[00:36]: which is mostarda is basically like a
[00:39]: pickle but usually it's fruit but she
[00:43]: switched it out with sweet potatoes
[00:44]: because sweet potatoes are super
[00:47]: prevalent in eastern North Carolina we
[00:49]: grow a lot of them we eat a lot of them
[00:51]: so that's what we're making today so the
[00:56]: first thing I'm gonna do is to mix all
[00:59]: of the sort of pickling ingredients in
[01:03]: my pot so I can reuse this bowl for my
[01:05]: sweet potatoes and so we need to before
[01:09]: we put the sweet potatoes in we're going
[01:10]: to bring this up to a simmer
[01:13]: but first I'm just going to combine the
[01:15]: ingredients so we have sugar it's quite
[01:19]: a lot of sugar and a cinnamon stick
[01:24]: we have apple cider vinegar
[01:33]: we have some turmeric and coleman's
[01:40]: mustard powder she specifically asks for
[01:43]: that type of mustard powder so that's
[01:45]: what we have here we have some mustard
[01:51]: seeds some cloves and allspice berries
[01:56]: those are counted out the mustard seeds
[01:59]: are measured but the other things are
[02:01]: counted out and then we have some sliced
[02:04]: lemons so that's what goes in here right
[02:07]: now and I'm just gonna put this over
[02:10]: here out of the way oh wait I forgot the
[02:13]: salt so we need to put some salt in this
[02:16]: as well not a whole lot I'm just kind of
[02:19]: surprisingly but I guess it's supposed
[02:20]: to be mostly sweet and sour and not as
[02:22]: salty as some pickles so and so she
[02:25]: calls for two medium sweet potatoes
[02:30]: about a pound and a half this sweet
[02:33]: potato that I happen to have is not
[02:37]: medium it is rather large it is more
[02:41]: than a pound and a half all by itself so
[02:44]: we're going to use this because it's
[02:47]: what I had first I'm gonna peel it so
[02:59]: have our sweet potato all peeled what
[03:01]: she suggests for the smaller sweet
[03:04]: potatoes is that you cut these into half
[03:06]: moons yeah I'm gonna go with quarters I
[03:10]: think cuz it's just such a huge sweet
[03:12]: potato in fact I'm gonna cut it
[03:17]: like this before I even deal with it
[03:20]: because it's just such a large one and
[03:22]: sweet potatoes are hard to cut can be
[03:25]: hard to cut so I'm gonna go quarters
[03:37]: this one's a little bit smaller but it'd
[03:39]: be fine and then we slice them about 1/8
[03:43]: of an inch thick so I don't know how
[03:51]: good my estimation is there but that's
[03:53]: pretty thin
[04:05]: okay now that our sweet potato is all
[04:09]: cut up we're just going to go ahead and
[04:12]: get the brine mixture simmering before
[04:16]: we add this alright we have our brine
[04:19]: and our soar syrup whatever you want to
[04:22]: call it here on the stove coming up to a
[04:26]: simmer I think we're actually almost
[04:28]: there I went ahead and started it
[04:30]: because I knew it was going to take a
[04:30]: while
[04:32]: I think edges are kinda startin to
[04:36]: bubble or they were before I stirred it
[04:39]: I'm gonna turn it up a little bit
[04:40]: there's no indication of what
[04:43]: temperature we should bring it up to a
[04:45]: simmer at but we're just bringing it up
[04:46]: to a simmer or so I think we're okay but
[04:51]: once we put the sweet potatoes in we
[04:56]: only cook it for about two minutes so
[05:00]: okay we're definitely there with this
[05:03]: simmer now I'm gonna go ahead and add
[05:05]: these sweet potatoes in all of them and
[05:11]: she says you're gonna have a hard time
[05:13]: keeping them submerged but by the end of
[05:17]: the two minutes they should all sort of
[05:19]: stay submerged you're not looking to
[05:20]: cook these fully just get them a little
[05:24]: bit soft a little bit wilted but still
[05:26]: crisp so two minutes
[05:32]: it's been about three minutes already
[05:34]: and I think there's kind of starting to
[05:36]: get a little bit wilty I'm just not sure
[05:40]: all of them are they're still pretty
[05:42]: wrong most of them I'm gonna let it go
[05:46]: another minute or so I think before we
[05:50]: call it good it's not really it sort of
[05:52]: just starting to come back up to a
[05:54]: simmer or so even though I've got the
[05:57]: heat relatively high it's sort of a
[05:59]: medium-high heat right now we just don't
[06:02]: want them to all of a sudden be mushy
[06:04]: sweet potatoes all right let's
[06:07]: definitely back up to a simmer a boilie
[06:10]: thing the thinnest ones are definitely
[06:19]: starting to get kind of bendy and we're
[06:21]: gonna let this sit off the heat until it
[06:26]: comes to room temperature so I think I'm
[06:30]: gonna call it there turn it off and move
[06:32]: it off the heat that was really more
[06:34]: like six minutes total for me so but
[06:39]: that's it we're gonna let that sit and
[06:41]: then sadly we have to let this sit in
[06:44]: the refrigerator for about a week before
[06:46]: we're supposed to actually taste it
[06:48]: so and it's meant to be served sort of
[06:51]: with meats any anywhere you would use
[06:55]: like a pickle or as sort of a condiment
[06:57]: so we'll see what we decide to do with
[07:00]: it next week and we'll let you know
[07:04]: [Music]
[07:15]: on today's episode cooking the books
[07:18]: with Heather we made sweet potato Mostar
[07:21]: de from deep run roots this is basically
[07:26]: a bread and butter pickle but made with
[07:29]: sweet potatoes instead of cucumbers and
[07:32]: we had it with we tried it with a pork
[07:37]: roast that we smoked and you know
[07:38]: chopped up sort of as a condiment with
[07:41]: that and really it was delicious
[07:45]: so everybody sort of two thumbs up it
[07:48]: was it was very unexpected you can eat
[07:50]: the the lemons the sliced lemons that
[07:52]: are in it as well as the sweet potatoes
[07:54]: so really good it was very sweet but
[07:57]: also a sort of sweet and sour really
[08:01]: really good as far as the ease of it I
[08:06]: think I've never actually made pickles
[08:07]: before but it's pretty easy you don't
[08:10]: really need any special equipment she
[08:12]: doesn't ask for you to can it although
[08:13]: I'm sure you could if you had you know
[08:17]: if you wanted to you could can it in
[08:18]: smaller batches we just put it in the
[08:21]: jar and put it in a refrigerator and
[08:24]: we'll have to use it up a little more
[08:27]: quickly than if we a canned it but I'm
[08:30]: looking forward to using it in maybe
[08:34]: mentos cheese deviled eggs or at least
[08:39]: as garnishes maybe putting it on a
[08:40]: cheese plate when we have guests so
[08:43]: really good really easy for a pickle the
[08:48]: ingredients are not hard to find
[08:51]: cinnamon allspice those are generally
[08:54]: mustard seeds you can find those in any
[08:56]: grocery store generally so yeah I think
[09:00]: if you like pickles like sweet pickles
[09:03]: certainly you should try it so thanks
[09:06]: for watching and if you enjoyed this
[09:07]: episode please hit the subscribe button
[09:10]: and hit the thumbs up and we'll be back
[09:12]: next week with another episode thanks
[09:16]: [Music]