Time to take sides

Give it a scrub and cut it in half

There has never been a time in my life when I did not love sweet potatoes.

(It was a done deal, however, when my Mamaw would serve them at her Louisiana Thanksgiving table with marshmallows covering the top of the dish all melty and having been browned for a minute under the broiler.)

Now, there are some things I will not eat. Just a few weeks ago I had a conversation with a friend who asked me to identify a few of those things.

Olives. Avocado. Brussels sprouts. Oysters. Asparagus. Yes I said asparagus and don't come at me. Eels and octopi. Pickled pigs' feet. Sardines (any more; I ate a fair many of them on crackers as a child). Also I don't do things like collard greens and turnip greens and mustard greens and so forth and so on.

And I know that you may love some or all of those things, but that for some people, sweet potatoes would be at the top of that list.

Drizzle and season

Both of our Andrews -- our son, and our grandson -- as small children, have thrown up at the table when asked to eat a bite of sweet potato.

And yes I'm talking about the sweet potato casserole that's served at Thanksgiving and Christmas, loaded with brown sugar and marshmallows.

(Even now, Audrey will only eat sweet potatoes the way I prepare them at Thanksgiving, which is the official Ruth's Chris Sweet Potato Casserole recipe.)

(And it is mighty fine, and festive, and all the things, and you should try it.)

But I don't need for my sweet potato to be gussied up with more sweetness; I just love the taste of a sweet potato.

For my money it's got to be kosher salt

So it was that recently I had my consciousness raised to what apparently has become a viral sensation on social media: the baked sweet potato that you cut in half. Before baking.

It was a while before I tried it; to be honest I was skeptical that it could be as good as the way the Instagram cheffluencers made it look and sound.

But a couple of weeks ago I gave in and made them exactly as instructed.

And they were right: a sweet potato done that way really is as good as they say, and better than you've probably ever tasted.

Now, on off chance that you are one of the people in the world (because there are only two kinds: those who love sweet potatoes and those who would rather chew radioactive shards of glass than eat a sweet potato) who love sweet potatoes, listen up.

Now they're ready to turn over

Get you a nice big sweet potato. Clean it with a brush under running water, and dry it with a paper towel. Using a big knife carefully, cut it in half lengthwise.

Prepare a pan with foil (I mean this way there is virtually no cleanup) and then parchment paper (absolutely these must be baked on parchment paper).

For this next part, I place my sweet potato halves directly onto the parchment paper, cut side up.

(There is another method involving placing your two sweet potato halves into a bowl and generously drizzling them with olive oil, then adding a bunch of salt and pepper, and using your hands to coat all the entire surface of each half with the oil and seasoning.)

(I tried this once and it made no difference in the outcome so I don't do that anymore.)

So turn them over already

I drizzle the cut side of the potato halves with the olive oil, then liberally sprinkle each half with kosher salt and a nice amount of milled pepper.

After that, just turn the cut sides down onto the parchment paper. Don't forget that part; you have to turn them upside down so they are lying flat on the parchment paper.

Place your tray into a cold oven. Set the oven to 375 degrees and wait about an hour.

They smell heavenly while they are cooking.

The potatoes are done when they're soft and you find that out by poking them with a fork.

After about an hour, they look like this

At that point, remove your pan and set it on the counter to cool.

Let the potatoes cool for about a half hour before you dig in.

I don't have words to describe the delicious crunch of the outer edges of the sweet potato halves.

And the soft natural sweetness of the inside.

I eat every bit of it, skin and all.

Yes I can eat the whole thing

Do you love sweet potatoes? Have you been drooling throughout this post, vowing to fix you one in just this way, at the first opportunity?

Or do you loathe the very idea of sweet potatoes, to such an extent that you are more likely to ingest fricasseed ferret fingers than to allow a scintilla of sweet potato past your lips, and you only finished reading this post to be polite, although you were gagging?

Tell me about it in the comments. I want to know who is with me on this.

At any rate, no matter where you land on the subject of sweet potatoes, keep your chin up and keep the faith, until the day break, and the shadows flee away!

And that is all for now.

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Happy Tuesday