Potato Balls

History

This dish comes from Martha McCulloch-Williams's "Dishes & Beverages of the Old South," published in New York by McBride, Nast & Company in October 1913. The book records it under the heading "Potato Balls," where it is made not from white potatoes but from sweet potatoes: the cook is told to "Mash boiled or baked sweet potatoes smooth," season them "with salt, pepper, cinnamon, a little nutmeg, and melted butter," bind the mixture "with a well-beaten egg," roll it "into balls the size of large walnuts," coat them "in fine crumbs or sifted cornmeal," then "drop in deep hot fat, fry crisp, drain, and use as a garnish to roast pork, roast fowl, or broiled ham".

Within the book the recipe sits plainly among other sweet-potato preparations (candied, "tipsy," left-over) in the vegetable chapter, presented as a cooking method with no accompanying history, origin story, inventor, date, or region.

Beyond the book's own text, the historical record does not document a specific origin, place, or lineage for this particular dish. The earlier claim that it "emerged in colonial Virginia" is unsupported by any source located here and also misreads the recipe as ordinary mashed potato rather than the sweet-potato preparation the book describes. The honest history is therefore narrow: a fried sweet-potato ball recorded as a garnish in a 1913 Southern cookbook.

Ingredients

• sweet potatoes
• salt
• pepper
• cinnamon
• a little nutmeg
• butter
• 1 egg
• flour
• fine crumbs or sifted cornmeal
• fat

Instructions

1. Mash boiled or baked sweet potatoes until smooth. Season well with salt, pepper, cinnamon, and a little nutmeg. Stir in melted butter and bind the mixture with a well-beaten egg.
2. Flour your hands and roll the mashed potato into balls the size of large walnuts. Roll each ball in fine crumbs or sifted cornmeal until well coated.
3. Drop the balls into deep hot fat and fry until crisp. Drain well on paper or cloth. Use as a garnish for roast pork, roast fowl, or broiled ham.