Stuffing

Beverly's Grandma Stoll lived in Deep River, Connecticut, and her whole family converged on her house during the holidays. They all have taken the recipe with them wherever they moved. My Southern friends love this variation to their traditional turkey dinner because of the natural, down-home, unexotic flavors of the dressing. Beverly use the liver, but I don't .

For best results, make this stuffing with day-old Buttermilk Corn Bread.

Here is a colorful dressing that is baked alongside—rather than inside—the turkey.

This recipe originally accompanied Crown Roast of Pork with Apple and Pork Stuffing and Cider Gravy . Part of the terrific stuffing is used to fill the crown roast of pork, and the rest is baked alongside. But if you are making the stuffing to go with other meats, simply bake all of it in a shallow baking dish until a meat thermometer registers 155°F.

Maple syrup in the corn bread adds a touch of New England to this traditional stuffing. The leftover bread is also nice with scrambled eggs or omelets.

Most supermarkets have at least one type of spiced sausage. If you don't have the time to make cornbread, it usually is sold at BBQ restaurants and diners. This recipe is an accompaniment for Maple Ginger Roasted Turkey.

Pennsylvania is now a national center for cultivated exotic or "specialty" mushrooms like shiitake and crimini, but early colonists found plenty of familiar wild mushrooms growing free for the picking in the forests of their new world. The tradition finds expression in this mushroom-lover's dressing, which blends both wild and cultivated fungi for maximum flavor.

Inspired by the cooking of the American South—and absolutely delicious.

The sweet bread called for here was introduced to Hawaii by nineteenth-century Portuguese immigrants. The stuffing can also be cooked inside the turkey, provided the bird is roasted immediately after being stuffed. For more flavor, rub the turkey with a mixture of salt and pepper and two tablespoons each of sesame oil, orange juice and lime juice, and let it marinate overnight.

Whether cooked in the pan or in the bird, this stuffing has great down-home flavor.

The turkey's flavors of bacon and sage are repeated in this robust stuffing. Mushrooms, which have long been hunted in the heartland, add a nice touch.

The flavor of the stuffing complements most fowl--there is enough here to stuff a 12-pound turkey or six game hens. The stuffing is also delicious as a side dish with roast pork or as a filling for cabbage rolls.