photo by: Nora Edinger

WHEELING — It was a case of one grandma and four stair-step granddaughters under foot. “She always had us in the kitchen making sure we knew how to cook,” said Stephanie Nevels Stradwick of Wheeling, one of the sisters.

Stradwick, who will be rolling out a Thanksgiving buffet to end all buffets with sister Janice Nevels Martin in the next few days, said the girls would stand or kneel on chairs. Whatever it took for them to reach the countertop.

The late Vanella Morrow was known for fancy cookies, the sisters said. Morrow’s Christmas specialities — except for tiny green wreaths with candied cherry bits that Martin said are too crazy hard to make — are still on that holiday’s menu throughout the family.

But, for Thanksgiving, it will be Morrow’s sweet potato pie that plays a starring role.

The sisters — now all in their 60s — have mixed it up a bit. Literally. Gone is the ricer Morrow used to rid the sweet potatoes of stringiness. Martin and Stradwick each admit they have one tucked away in a cabinet somewhere, but they prefer an electric mixer these days.

But, the recipe is still basically the same. Not that there actually is one. “We just know how to make it,” Martin said.

photo by: Nora Edinger

Sisters Janice Nevels Martin, left, and Stephanie Nevels Stradwick, both of Wheeling, have been cooking together since they were old enough to stand on chairs and reach the kitchen counter. Sweet potato pie — a soul food classic that will play a starring role on their family’s Thanksgiving table — is one of their many specialties.

PIE 101

“I make the batter and however many pies I get out of that is how many I get,” Stradwick said of operating by sight and taste. She’s looking for a filling about the consistency of a thick milkshake, she said. “We don’t want it to be too thin, because then it won’t bake right.”

In addition to mixing the dickens out of the filling, Stradwick said it is important to peel away the skin from boiled sweet potatoes while they are warm.

“If it’s too hot (when the sweet potatoes are peeled), the pie is mushy. If they’re too cold, it’s stringy,” she said.

Here is an approximate recipe that incorporates the sisters’ advice with some basic proportions:

Sweet Potato Pie

Prepare No-Roll Crust (recipe follows) in a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan, cover with a clean cloth and store in the refrigerator.

Boil three large sweet potatoes (orange-fleshed yams are also fine) until tender enough that a knife can pierce all the way through each. This will take about 30-45 minutes. Cool sweet potatoes on a rack until they can be safely handled. Peel and discard skin.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put prepared crust on the counter to warm to room temperature.

Place warm sweet potatoes in a mixing bowl. Chop coarsely and blend with an electric mixer until smooth.

Add 7 Tablespoons unsalted butter (or butter-flavored shortening for dairy-free version), ¼ cup evaporated milk (or nut milk for dairy-free version), ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup white sugar, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix until well blended.

Pour into the prepared crust – leaving at least ¼ inch at the top. (Leftover filling can be baked in an oven-proof dish.) Bake for 1 to 1½ hours or until a knife inserted into the center of filling comes out clean.

Cool on rack to room temperature. Refrigerate, covered with plastic cling wrap, until serving time. Warm to room temperature on the counter before serving.

No-Roll Crust

Mix 1 cup all-purpose flour (or rice flour for gluten-free version), 1 teaspoon white sugar and ¼ teaspoon salt.

Add 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter (or butter-flavored shortening for dairy-free version). Using a pastry blender, mix the butter/shortening with the flour until pieces are about the size of peas.

Add 2 Tablespoons water and 1 egg yolk. Mix with a spoon or fork until barely combined. Then, gently knead until well combined. (This dough does not toughen with handling.)

Use the heel of your hand to press into a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan, bringing the dough up the sides of the pan to the top of the dish. Make sure the dough is an even thickness in all parts of the pan.