Stuffing

Ah yes, it is that time of year again. Feasts and festivities are in full swing. More than ever many folks are yearning to catch up after three years of plague madness. I had no particular plans for Turkey Day but in the blink of an eye it morphed into two days of turkey and all the fixins. Family and neighbors were in the mix which made for convivial gatherings.

I love traditional Thanksgiving fare, especially the sides. Creamy mashed potatoes smothered in sage-flavored gravy. Soft green beans coated in cream of mushroom soup, topped with crunchy fried onions. Bright orange sweet potatoes doused in sugar and crowned with savory pecans (sorry, no marshmallows for me). Tangy cranberry sauce with bright flavor hits. Sweet corn holding its own with just a bit of salt and butter. And, Mr. Turkey, move over because here comes the best side of all, the stuffing.

Stuffing, dressing, whatever you call it, is a non-negotiable side. Frankly, I could skip most of the other offerings and just eat a big plate of stuffing. Well, maybe I would keep the potatoes, too. And the gravy. Okay, I'll stop now. The challenge with stuffing is getting the right balance of ingredients and the correct consistency. Dry stuffing is sad. Gloopy stuffing is sticky. Under-seasoned stuffing is dull. And too little stuffing is a felony.

I have discovered that the perfect stuffing will most likely be forever elusive to me because I am trying to hit a memory target. My mother made the best stuffing ever. She never followed a recipe so I do not have a dog-eared, stained-up recipe card to follow. And sadly I did not ask her enough questions when she was preparing it. I know she stuffed part of it in the bird (not advised anymore, but I'll never tell). She also made a huge pan of additional stuffing. When it was time to serve she scraped the soft, moist stuffing out of the bird's cavity and added the flavorful mass to the pan stuffing. Her ingredients were simple with dried bread (homemade bread for many years), onion, celery, butter and seasonings. Again, I never asked her about the seasonings. Bad daughter. We slurped up every spoonful and my dream of having a pan all to myself was never to be.

Truthfully, it is not about whether we use sausage, giblets, oysters or a tasty box of StoveTop Stuffing in our stuffing mix. The gravy can be lumpy and the mashed potatoes less than creamy. The sweet potatoes can be a little too sweet and the pies framed with tough crusts. The turkey can be dry and the 9x13 pan of jiggly lime jello can be too much of a good thing. The important ingredients are really sitting across the table from us. They can be salty, sweet or a bit spicy. They can be young, old or everything in between. The cast of characters can change over time, for the good or the bad. But, the presence of others always adds up to an assemblage of humanity. We stitch together another memorable moment that will last well beyond the sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.

Happy Thanksgiving!