PRESIDENTIAL DINNERS. EVERYDAY GROCERIES.
POTUSPLATEHISTORY • RECIPES • YOUR DINNER
Presidents/Andrew Johnson

AT THE TABLE WITH ANDREW JOHNSON

Spiced sweet potato pudding

Soft, spiced, and made for sharing.

Dessert55 min with cooked potatoesServes 6
Jump to recipe ↓
Spiced sweet potato pudding — the black-and-white years
The black-and-white years · Serving illustration

THE STORY ON YOUR PLATE

Sweet potatoes from a Tennessee kitchen

More about Andrew Johnson →

The seventeenth president succeeded Lincoln.

Historical reconstruction

Sweet potatoes provide a regional link to Johnson’s Tennessee household. Roasting and mashing them before baking makes a smooth pudding with milk, eggs and warm spices.

The president & the table

Andrew Johnson’s food traditions belong to the Southern cooking of his Tennessee home. Later presidential culinary accounts associate that household with sweet potatoes and other substantial, inexpensive foods. They offer a regional starting point for a dessert made from a crop that could be stored and used well beyond harvest.

Behind this story

Presidential culinary histories of Johnson’s Tennessee household; Southern sweet-potato cookery. This recipe is a regional reconstruction.

APRON ON. HISTORY CAN WAIT.

Make it at home.

Serves 6

What you’ll need

Let’s make it

  1. If starting with raw sweet potatoes, peel, cube and simmer until tender, about 15–20 minutes. Drain thoroughly and mash; allow about 25 extra minutes overall.

  2. Heat the oven to 175°C / 350°F. Butter a 1 litre / 4 cup baking dish.

  3. Whisk the mash with eggs, milk, butter, sugar, molasses, spices and salt. Spread in the dish and sprinkle with optional pecans.

  4. Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the middle is set and reaches 71°C / 160°F. Rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Cooking notes

Mash the cooked sweet potatoes before combining them with the remaining ingredients.

Metric and US measures are approximate equivalents. For baking, use weights when you can.