The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/10/05
We know what makes Thanksgiving dinner special, and it's not served on a platter.
Food & Drink received dozens of letters in response to our request for favorite stuffings — or dressings, if you prefer — with stories of cherished traditions and recipes handed down for generations or picked up from new in-laws.
 | |||
| Betty and Jem Hom | |||
 | |||
| Morales and Singh | |||
 | |||
| Feldman | |||
 | |||
| Watterson | |||
 | |||
| Sidney Corum | |||
 | |||
| Corum's shrimp and oyster stuffing | |||
 | |||
| Currens | |||
 | |||
| Currens' bird stuffing | |||
|  | ||
|
MOST POPULAR STORIES
EMAIL THIS
PRINT THIS
MOST POPULARReaders wrote about stuffings made with familiar ingredients such as corn bread, chestnuts and sausage, and more unusual ones, such as cherry pie filling, mashed potatoes, Chicken and Stars soup or cheese. They all shared one trait: They were the most-anticipated part of the meal.
How cherished are dressings? Consider what happened when Charlie Roquemore of Fayetteville, a corn bread dressing purist, refused to eat his mother's revamped recipe after she started adding bread and "other undesirables."
"I thought she was going to remove me from the family," he wrote.
"I did sample a small bite just to humor her, but I did not like it. She never did understand why."
Ron Currens of Atlanta shared the bread stuffing his family has enjoyed for more than 50 years, a tradition that he's passing along to his children.
Half is baked inside the turkey, and half spread over cookie sheets and baked separately for a crunchier texture.
"When the turkey is done, this dressing is food for the gods — soft, luxurious and filled with flavor," he wrote.
With testimony like that, maybe it's time to rethink Turkey Day. Dressing Day, anyone?
Couple agree to disagree when it comes to making dish
"I call my parents, Jem and Betty Hom, the 'Bickering Gourmets,'" writes Renee Neary of Atlanta, "because, although they are both gifted chefs, they can never seem to agree on exactly how to prepare a dish. Since they've been doing this for more than 40 years — cooking and arguing at the same time — but are still together, I've finally figured out that this is just how they prefer to cook!
"When my father emigrated from China in the 1950s, he worked in a number of Chinese restaurants, where he developed his culinary skills. After a whirlwind romance, he married my mother, who he was amazed to find did not know how to cook. He taught her the fundamentals of cooking, and she became an excellent cook in her own right.
"Nowadays my mother does most of the daily meal preparation (with endless critiquing from my dad), but my father enjoys making big holiday meals. One of my favorite dishes of his is a stuffing with chicken livers, gizzards, Italian sausage and pine nut. Although the livers and gizzards are not essential, I think they are what lend the stuffing its distinctive flavor. My parents may disagree over how much chicken broth to add to the dressing, or how long to brown the sausage, but at least they both agree that the dish is an excellent accompaniment to the Thanksgiving turkey (the preparation of which is another subject of disagreement between them)!"
Room on the table for a bit of everything
Kathya Morales Singh of Marietta wrote, "My family and I have lived in Georgia since 1997, and we have adopted all things Southern: biscuits and gravy, grits, sweet potato souffle, etc. Growing up in Puerto Rico, we have always observed Thanksgiving. And in my 37 years celebrating it, there's always been my dad Emilio Morales' meat-based 'relleno' (stuffing) inside the big bird. Now I share the dish with my husband's family in Florida. It is a very simple recipe, but the taste combination is extraordinary.
"It's a good thing my mother-in-law's dining room buffet is spacious. I have found there is plenty of room on it for both my favorite Southern corn bread dressing as well as my dad's meat stuffing!"
Daughter carries on a cherished tradition
Leslie Abrahams of Sandy Springs shared her mother's dressing, the one she grew up eating and the one she now takes to Thanksgiving meals with her husband's family in Delaware. Her mother, Renee Feldman of north Atlanta, also grew up eating the dressing. Here's what Feldman wrote about her family tradition:
"My mother, Olga Franco Galanti, came to Atlanta and America at age 7. She was the youngest of three daughters, whose mother made sure they were skilled in the Sephardic (Spanish-Jewish) cooking they knew on the Isle of Rhodes.
"She and her sister (my Aunt Mathilda) went to cooking classes at the Fox Theatre in the late '20s. There they became Americanized and learned to make cream cheese and apple "roses," tuna-stuffed tomatoes and this dressing, using chestnuts and pecans. They, of course, tweaked the recipe and made it more bountiful still.
"It has been passed down in the family and every niece, great-niece and grandchild has made it and/or carried it to Thanksgiving feasts around the country. I have simplified it somewhat. Feel free to enjoy it with your family, but be warned: Sometimes it is more popular than the turkey."
Blessings and dressing go hand in hand
Shirley Watterson of Morrow has prepared Thanksgiving dinners for 51 years, starting with a group of six around a card table. She modeled her dressing recipe after a corn bread dressing she tasted at Morrow Elementary School at a PTA fund-raising dinner in the '60s, what she calls an old-fashioned, country-style recipe.
Now, as many as 40 relatives and friends gather for Thanksgiving, held the last few years at the Stockbridge home of daughter Ann Watterson and Ann's husband, Don Huber. But some things haven't changed.
"Everyone has, over the years, created a signature side dish or dessert to share," Watterson writes. "Together we count our many, many blessings, and guess who still makes the dressing?"
Mom puts in request for a son's dish
Sidney Corum of Decatur writes, "My Momma's Shrimp and Oyster Stuffing is very special because my mother, Ruth Corum, requests that I cook it every year at our family Thanksgiving or Christmas gatherings. She says she doesn't get to eat my stuffing as often as she likes.
"Each year I can count on her to roll her eyes — in that sly Momma way — and ask who is going to make the stuffing for our holiday dinners, knowing full well that I will make her favorite. I have to smile just thinking about her expression. I've been making the recipe, which I created with her help, for the past 15 years."
Inside or outside, it's still a family favorite
According to Ron Currens of Atlanta, "Like many baby boomers, some of my earliest memories involve food and family. When the holiday season rolled around, family members would return home to help prepare a feast. My favorite treat from these early '50s gatherings was the 'outside the turkey stuffing.'
"A crunchy, savory delight, this 'stuffing' was always the largest helping on my plate. And it still is. This special stuffing was prepared for my dad by his mom when he was a youngster, and my mom learned to make it for him; it is the one recipe that he always expected to accompany our turkey.
"My kids have learned to love this unusual stuffing as much as I do. I have modified and improved the recipe. Back in the '50s no one could get fresh herbs in the winter, for instance. (Although I do remember one summer my dad grew sage and carefully dried it just to use in his turkey dressing!) I have also adapted it for a superb, traditional 'inside the turkey stuffing.' But it's the outside stuffing I can't live without."
