Back in 2009 I made Ruth Reichl's sweet potato pie. It went over well, and I never bothered trying a new recipe because I wasn't fond of sweet potatoes and had made the pie for someone who was. Things have changed. I've come around to sweet potatoes (especially in pie form) and knew it was time to try the famous Mama Dip's recipe.
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Mama Dip's was an iconic Chapel Hill restaurant founded by Mildred Council whose nickname was "Dip". Her family ran the restaurant for almost 50 years and are stars in the Triangle area food world. Given the recipe's lineage I had high hopes for this pie.
Sweet Potato Pie Comparisons
So how did Mama Dip's compare to the Ruth Reichl pie I made 15 years ago? I made it again so we could taste them side by side. Mama Dip's is the pie on the top and Ruth Reichl's is the other. Also, ignore the crusts. The Mama Dip's had a homemade crust that I par-baked at too high a temperature so it shrank and the Ruth pie had frozen Pillsbury crust since I was focusing on the filling.
Mama Dip's Sweet Potato Pie
The texture of the Mama Dip's pie is kind of bumpy, probably from the whipped egg whites, but not bad at all. The filling is packed with flavor from the brown sugar and spices. My two secret additions of a teaspoon of molasses and ¼ teaspoon of mace help. My older recipe, Ruth Reichl's, is incredibly smooth, which I think comes from adding the sugar to the warm butter. It also tastes like rum. And alas, it has less butter. Mama Dip's won the taste test here, probably because it has more butter and spices. The filling wasn't silky smooth, but nobody cared. I didn't think there was a noticeable difference in the sweet potato flavor even though I boiled the Mama Dip potatoes and baked the Ruth Reichl. I think I'll test the Mama Dip recipe with Sugary Sam's just for fun.
Recipe
Mama Dip’s Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes weight of 15 oz after mashing and cooking
- 2 large eggs separated
- ½ cup salted butter (or unsalted plus an extra ⅜ tsp salt)
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar plus 1 teaspoon molasses
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg (or use half nutmeg and half mace)
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 9-inch unbaked deep dish pastry shell
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°. Set a rimmed baking sheet in the oven to preheat along with the oven.
- Combine sweet potatoes, melted butter, brown sugar, egg yolks, salt, and spices. Stir in milk, and mix well with a heavy duty scraper or you can use a mixer on low speed.
- In a clean bowl, beat egg whites at high speed of an electric mixer for 1 minute. Gradually add the ¼ cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks just start to form. Don't beat until dry.
- Fold egg whites into sweet potato mixture, then spoon into an unbaked pastry shell.
- Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven and set the unbaked pie on it. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F and bake for an additional 45 minutes or until set. Let cool completely. Store in the refrigerator.
Sue K says
That’s really interesting that the Mama Dips won the taste test! Visually the Ruth Reichl pie wins. I remember making a sweet potato dish one year for my Mom that was billed as a side. It tasted just like pie. It was really good but more of a dessert than a side.
You have all of my respect that you would made TWO sweet potato pies so you could compare them side by side! Wow!