‘Dchef’ dishes island delights L with his new tell-all cookbook ook for some serious island spice and nutrient-packed tuber. sweetness, too, in Chef David Vincent It is here that you will ﬁnd some of Young’s Young’s ﬁrst cookbook, “Burnin’ Down most noteworthy recipes, including his signaSouth: Cherished Low Country Flavors Created ture Dchef’s Sweet Potato Cornbread and my in an Iconic Hotspot.” personal favorite, Sweet Potato Cheese Treasured recipes from a family Cake Pie. If you have any questions who has lived on Hilton Head Island about any of Young’s recipes, he has for more than 175 years, along with made it easy to succeed by including other traditional Gullah and Caribhis e-mail address in the back of book, which is also the way to purchase any bean Island dishes, have inﬂuenced of his seasoning products, such as Young’s crafting of both ﬂavor-exploKITCHEN Burnin’ Down South Seasoning Salt, sive cuisine and his newly released, ADE Hot Sauce or Herbs de Provence. For blow-the lid-off trade secrets cookSue Ade further information or to obtain an book. autographed copy of “Burnin’ Down Not only will you know what’s in the dishes that have put Hilton Head Island’s South,” contact Young at dchef_1999@yahoo. hole-in-the wall Sea Shack Restaurant on the com. Cookbooks may also be ordered online through BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon. map, but you will know precisely how it’s com done. Although the book’s recipes include Southern favorites like Shrimp Gumbo, Gullah-Style Mac-n-Cheese, Savory Collard Sue Ade, a Lowcountry resident since 1985, is a Greens, and Stewed Tomatoes and Okra, it’s gourmet baker and collector of vintage cooking David’s love of sweet potatoes that comutensils and cookbooks. She can be reached at pelled him to devote an entire chapter to the sueade@aol.com or (843) 683-0375. Chef David Vincent Young, a native Hilton Head Islander and Madison, Wis., culinary school graduate, put 30-plus years of cooking experience into writing “Burnin’ Down South: Cherished Low Country Flavors Created in an Iconic Hotspot,” but credits the late Mary Cohen, the great-grandmother who raised him, with teaching him to cook. Young’s Sweet Potato Cheese Cake Pie and Dchef’s Sweet Potato Cornbread are among the cookbook’s most delicious recipes. Young also puts out a line of Burnin’ Down South seasoning blends and is planning more cookbooks. Photos by Sue Ade/Morris News Service RECIPES AND FOOD COURTESY CHEF DAVID VINCENT YOUNG, HILTON HEAD ISLAND Sweet Potato Cheese Cake Pie 1 (10-inch) deep-dish graham cracker pie crust (store-bought or homemade) 16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 1-2 cups hot mashed sweet potatoes (recipe follows) ½ cup light brown sugar, packed 3 large eggs, room temperature ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon ground ginger ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg ½ cup sweetened condensed milk 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla ¼ cup brandy 2 tablespoons all-purpose ﬂour 2 tablespoons sweet potato syrup (recipe below), or molasses Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, spices and condensed milk. Beat ingredients together until smooth. Mix in sweet potatoes, ﬂour, eggs, sweet potato syrup or molasses, vanilla and the brandy. Mix until smooth. Pour batter into crust. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until ﬁlling is set. When done, set on a wire rack to cool to room temperature, then chill. Serve with whipped cream and sweet potato syrup. Dchef’s Sweet Potato Cornbread RECIPE ADAPTED FOR A 9 X 13 X 2-INCH BAKING PAN A cross between a pie and a cheesecake, it would be hard to ﬁnd a more delicious sweet potato pie than this. If you are short on time, ﬁlling may be baked in a store-bought crust. You are looking at Chef David Young’s amazing sweet potato cornbread, the best I have ever tasted. Says Young of his signature recipe, “I wrote it just for you.” The sugar water that the sweet potatoes are cooked in is retained for making the thick, amber-colored Sweet Potato Syrup used in many of Dchef’s recipes. Sweet Potato Syrup Bring the sweet potato water back to a boil, then lower heat and cook until syrup thickens. Boil until syrup thickens and is a deep golden color. Makes about 1 ½ cups. Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Sweet Potato Syrup 3 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed, peeled and cut into medium diced pieces 1 ½ cups granulated sugar ½ cup brown sugar Place potatoes in a 4-quart saucepan. Cover potatoes with enough water to cover, then over medium-high heat, boil potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain potatoes, reserving the water the sweet potatoes were cooked in, then mash potatoes. 3 cups diced and boiled sweet potatoes (use cooking directions in “Sweet Potato Cheese Cake Pie” recipe)* 1 cup ﬁne cornmeal 1 cup medium to coarse cornmeal 1 cup all-purpose ﬂour ½ cup granulated sugar ½ cup light brown sugar 3 tablespoons baking powder 2 tablespoons ground ginger ½-1 tablespoon dry Jamaican Jerk seasoning* 2 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 cup sour dressing (imitation sour cream) or sour cream ½ cup liquid margarine or melted butter ﬂavored shortening 2 tablespoons vanilla extract 1 ½ cups water (more, or less, as needed) Sweet Potato Syrup (use directions in “Sweet Potato Syrup” recipe) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients mixing well to incorporate. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add vanilla, shortening, sour cream and 1 cup of sweet potatoes (do not pack potatoes in cup.) Mix with a rubber spatula from the center. Adding 1 cup of water at time, mix well. The batter should be soft but not runny. Fold in remaining sweet potatoes. Moderately grease a 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking pan and pour in batter to ﬁll ¾’s full. Bake for about 1 hour or until done. (Check for doneness by inserting a knife or toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean, the cornbread is done.) Remove from oven and drizzle with sweet potato syrup. Cool for 30 minutes, then serve. *Kitchen Ade note: I mashed the sweet potatoes with a fork for this recipe, leaving just a few of the diced pieces whole. Also, please be aware that Jamaican Jerk seasoning is hot and spicy, so you may want to add it to the batter a little at a time. It can found in most supermarkets or at online spice sources. Dchef writes that the two main ingredients are “allspice and scotch bonnet pepper.” The allspice in Jamaican Jerk seasoning is not the combination of spices we are accustomed to using in pumpkin pie recipes, but rather the dried unripe berry of the pimento (Pimenta dioica) plant, also known as “Jamaica pepper.” The second main ingredient, the Scotch bonnet pepper, found mainly in the Caribbean Islands, is one of the hottest peppers in the world, so keep that in mind when you are using it. My bottle of Jamaican Jerk Seasoning is so potent that it comes with a “keep out of reach of children” warning. When adding the seasoning, start out with just a ¼ teaspoon, taste the batter, then go from there. Remember, it takes 3 teaspoons to make a tablespoon, so the 1-2 tablespoons called for in this recipe might be hotter than some taste buds can accept.