My Thanksgiving Recipes

Ingredients:

• Two 12 oz bags fresh Ocean Spray cranberries
• One 16 oz jar mango slices (as fresh mangoes will rarely be available at the same time cranberries are)
• White sugar

Instructions:

• Wash cranberries, discarding rotten or very under-ripe berries.  Drain and set aside.
• Purée mango slices in food processor.  Transfer to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat.  When mango puree reaches boil, add cranberries.  Boil gently, stirring frequently (but gently), for 10 minutes.
• Taste sauce.  If it is too tart for your tastes, add sugar (I usually use about 3 – 4 Tbsp.)
• Remove from heat.  Let cool to room temperature and refrigerate.  Serve cold as an accompaniment to turkey.

I came up with this recipe for Thanksgiving 1999 .  In preparing for it, I carefully scrutinized three recipes for oyster dressing and then ignored them all (or perhaps synthesized them).   To give credit where credit is due, here are the source recipes:

• http://www.chilipaper.com/FRecipes/Fappeteazers/Fmisc/oyster_stuffing.htm
• http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/recipes/oysterstuffing.html
• http://www.esva.net/ghotes/stuffing1.htm (now dead)

Ingredients:

• Four 8 oz cans whole oysters
• One 16 oz loaf french bread, preferably day-old
• 2 sticks (1/2 lb) butter or margarine
• 1 medium onion
• 3 shallots
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 short stalk celery leaves (from heart of celery bunch)
• 2 – 3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp dried sage (or to taste)

Instructions:

• Drain oysters, reserving liquor.  Set aside.
• Cube french bread.  Place on cookie sheet and toast lightly in 250° oven.  Transfer to large (at least 4 quart) bowl.
• Chop onion, shallots, celery, and celery leaves.  Add parsley.  Melt butter in large skillet.  Sautée vegetables for two to three minutes (do not brown).  Near end of cooking, add salt, pepper, and dried herbs.  More can be added later, so add in moderation, especially the sage.
• Transfer vegetable/butter mixture to bowl containing bread.  Toss gently until bread is thoroughly coated (I find my hands work best for this).  Taste, and adjust seasoning if needed.
• Add drained oysters whole.  Toss again.  If stuffing is too dry, add some of the oyster liquor.  Sample again, and adjust seasoning if necessary.  Serve hot.

This is not so much a specific recipe as a framework.  The specifics will rely largely on the varieties and proportions of pears you choose.  This dish is designed to be eaten with a spoon as a side dish, not a sauce for food.  Unlike applesauce, ripe pears to do not require the addition of extra liquid to make a good sauce.  Here are the varieties of pear that will likely be available to you:

• Bartlett: This is your basic eating pear.  It has a basic pear-ness to it that is very helpful to this dish.  The sauce would be quite boring, however, without other varieties added.
• D’Anjou: A spicy, firmer-fleshed pear.  If your D’Anjou pears are especially firm, you might want to add them first so as not to overcook the softer pears.  I find D’Anjou pears add a delicious spice and depth to the dish.
• Bosc: These are the thin, brown, buttery pears that we see in stores.  They are surprisingly, and frequenly overpoweringly, sweet.  If you use many Bosc pears, you may not need to add sugar at all.  Be careful that the dish does not get too sweet.
• Red: Probably my favorite widely-available variety.  Sweet and soft (but not as sweet or soft as Bosc), complex, with a delicious fruitiness and aroma.  When I make this dish I use more Red pears than any other variety.

Ingredients:

• Assortment of pears of different varietes (see above)
• Lemon juice
• Turbinado sugar (“Sugar in the Raw” style)
• Ground spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, anise, true allspice, cardamom

Instructions:

• Prepare a large pot of cold water with some lemon juice.  Peel pears, core, and slice (perhaps 0.4 – 0.5 cm thick.) As they are peeled, place into a the pot to arrest oxidation.
• Drain pears and discard water.  Place pear slices in bottom of dry pot and cook over medium heat (you may wish to add firmer pears first).  Pears will begin to soften and exude juice.  When pears are soft enough to crush with a spoon, puree with an immersion blender.
• Taste sauce.  If it is too tart, add turbinado sugar.  If it is too sweet (or if you suspect it will oxidize too much) add lemon juice.
• Season.  I have a few recommendations.  Go easy on the cinnamon; it is too easy to fall into the trap of seasoning this exactly as one would applesauce.  Cloves can easily dominate the flavor and they also have anasthetic properties so they should be used sparingly; likewise overuse of anise and true allspice are inappropriate for this dish.  Use lots of nutmeg (they complement pears wonderfully.) In my opinion, however, the secret of this dish is the cardamom.  You may not have cardamom in your kitchen (it is the third most expensive spice in the world by weight, and not used frequently in American cooking) but it is well worth purchasing.  The trick to is to add the cardamom a little at a time, mixing well, and sampling.  You want the flavor of the cardamom to be bubbling right below the surface to leave your guests asking “What is that wonderful flavor?”
• When the sauce is seasoned to your liking, remove from heat.  Serve hot.  This keeps fairly well.  Allow it to cool to room temperature first, and then refrigerate in a covered container.