If a collection of pixels can provoke my mouth to salivate, this one takes the cake. It may not be the most amazing photo, but it's what inside that counts. My absolute favorite food is my dad's FAMOUS Thanksgiving(-and-sometimes-Christmas-when-we-guilt-trip-him) AMAZING, MINDBLOWING STUFFING. We don't actually "stuff" anything with this, however, because this deserves its own fancy platter. It would be sacrilege to shove this up the cavity of some dead bird.
My favorite part of Thanksgiving Day are the two hours when all other production is shut down in the kitchen for Chef Bob to focus. What I love about my dad in the kitchen is what a PRODUCTION it is. To his credit, making this dish isn't like tossing an egg on the frying pan. There are many things to chop, season, simmer, saute, butter, taste, and let me sample. Dad goes about it like he does all other tasks: with tenacity and desire to be the best. For once, my precious mom plays sous-chef. And it is the best. Arguably, it Dad's stuffing is the most popular dish at all holiday tables in the family.
Every year, there's something different added or taken away. Ingredients include pine nuts, bread, celery, rosemary, thyme, craisins, oregano, sometimes apple chunks, sometimes orange zest. There is something so unique about the flavor. It's buttery and tangy and salty and sweet and I always demand he make extra so we can enjoy days of leftovers. I take no shame in reheating it for breakfast.
Maybe he's no Bobby Flay, but Chef Bob earns his kitchen bragging rights and even more of our adoration every holiday. It lasts for those other 364 days. One of my fears is that I won't ever get some kind of recipe from him because he never writes it down and always improvises. I do take some comfort, and confidence, in my years and years of taste-testing. Plus, it has to be in the genes somewhere.
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