Candied yams is a Thanksgiving dish I've never cared for. I love the flavor, but why does it have to be the texture of baby food? I've grown up eating Korean sweet potatoes. My mom would poke them with a fork and throw them in the microwave. I looooooved them like this. When I went away to college, I'd buy sweet potatoes and prepare them in the same way. I was the girl walking around eating a sweet potato like it was an apple. I remember the first time I had a candied yam casserole with the marshmallows on top. It was mushy and sickeningly sweet. My friends raved about the toasted marshmallows. Toasted marshmallows are awesome (as are all slightly burnt sugary concoctions), but they're really just there to trick children into eating the gloppy mess of yams hiding under them. For this Thanksgiving, I decided to combine my beautiful Korean sweet potatoes with the ugliness that is the candied yam casserole.
Candied yams aren't actually yams. What Americans know to be yams are actually orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. If you really care, read this, and let me get back to my dish. I used Martha Stewart's Butter Pecan Sweet Potato recipe, but adapted it by using a mix of local Korean sweet potatoes. Pecans are insanely expensive in Korea. I've paced back and forth whimpering in front of an itty-bitty package of 10,000 won ($10) pecans at Homeplus. WHY?! In Texas, they fall from the trees like manna. Anyway, my point is, feel free to substitute a more economical nut or blend of nuts if you wish.
