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Just Say No To The Box

Photo by MICHELLE BAKER

We've had some time to perfect this stroke-inducing Thanksgiving staple, and it is soooo easy.

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By GREG and MICHELLE BAKER

Tribune correspondents

Published: November 14, 2008

We tackled Thanksgiving pie last week, a dish commonly reserved for a frozen-food aisle rescue.

This time we will tackle The Box.

There is one Thanksgiving staple that is served by almost every American family - and destroyed by almost every cook at some point. Whether you call it stuffing, dressing or forcemeat, it is the thorn in the Thanksgiving cook's side. Even we professionals have undercooked, burned, over-seasoned, under-salted and imploded (yes, imploded) our Thanksgiving stuffing.

To make things even more challenging, there are as many ways to prepare stuffing as there are ways to destroy it.

There's the New England version made with sourdough bread and oysters. Southerners are famous for their corn bread and sausage dressing. And Northwesterners crave their wild mushrooms and egg bread.

The Baker family loves savory Cranberry and Mirepoix Turkey Stuffing. Done right, it is pillowy soft on the inside with a little bit of crunch on the outside. Perfect for leftover turkey and cranberry sandwiches.

The first time we made the family stuffing, it was more like a soup. Panic, of course, set in, followed by screaming: "We have ruined Thanksgiving. You can't have Thanksgiving without stuffing!"

Some quick culinary thinking ensued, and we strained all of the liquid out of the stuffing soup, then added Wonder bread from the corner store (thrown into a 500-degree oven in five-minute shifts).

The next year, the stuffing was drier than the Mojave Desert. The year after that, a large air hole was captured in the center, which caused the stuffing to implode when it was sent under the broiler for a crisping. That was fun to clean up.

You see, it's not just you. We've made mistakes. But fear not, little culinary-wonder-bees. Every year we prepare a Thanksgiving feast for takeout and delivery for nearly 100 families. We've had some time to perfect this stroke-inducing Thanksgiving staple, and it is soooo easy. We could have saved a lot of brain cells had we thought of this recipe sooner.

Check out The Sherpas' Web site, www.cooksncompany.com, or their blog, www.culinarysherpas.com.

Join Greg and Michelle at Chefs on the Loose from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday for a hands-on Thanksgiving Recipe Rescue cooking class. They'll be revealing the secrets to four famous Thanksgiving dishes! Visit www.chefsontheloose.net or call (813) 835-7300.

CRANBERRY AND MIREPOIX TURKEY STUFFING

1 loaf French bread, torn or cut into cubes

2 tablespoons melted butter (or even better, duck fat)

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups celery, chopped

2 cups onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons fresh sage

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons fresh thyme

1 cup dried cranberries, optional

21/2 cups chicken or turkey stock

Sea or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the French bread in a bowl, and toss with the melted butter (or duck fat!), then place in a single layer on baking sheets and dry it in a 250-degree oven for about an hour.

While the bread is drying, put the other 2 tablespoons of butter in a saute pan over medium heat, and let it melt and get foamy. Add the celery, onion, garlic, sage, rosemary and thyme, and saute for 3 to 4 minutes, until the onions and celery have softened. Remove all of the sauteed vegetables from the pan, and place in a big bowl.

When the bread is dried, add it to the bowl along with the cranberries and chicken stock. This would be a good time to mention that if you want to cook the stuffing inside your turkey, you should decrease the amount of chicken stock to about 11/2 cups, as the juices from the turkey will add plenty of extra moisture.

Season this well with salt and pepper, and toss it all together. Check the flavor; you might like a little more sage or rosemary, and then either stuff the turkey or place the stuffing in a baking pan.

If you're going with the baking pan, finish the stuffing by baking at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's crisped to your liking. If you're stuffing the turkey, please, don't try to be efficient and stuff it hours or days ahead of time - you'll be throwing a party for microbes, and you really don't want to set a place for those guys at your table.

Makes 6 servings.

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