Sage

Lane Crowther, Bon Appétit contributing editor, "Stuffing has always set the tone for our Thanksgiving dinners. We choose the stuffing—it might be Tex-Mex, or another regional American, or something else—then create the menu around it. A few years ago, the feast had an Italian accent, and a vegetable stuffing led the way."

Everyone wants the juiciest turkey possible for Thanksgiving, and we find that brined or kosher turkeys are best for this. If you'd like to try brining, stir together 8 quarts water with 2 cups kosher salt in a 5-gallon bucket lined with a large heavy-duty plastic garbage bag, then soak raw turkey, covered and chilled, 10 hours. (Kosher turkeys, which are salted during the koshering process, are just as succulent and flavorful as brined ones.) If you are making this entire menu in a single oven, bake the stuffing and sweet potatoes and reheat the potato parsnip purée while the turkey stands after roasting.

In this recipe, the delicious taste of risotto is blended with the crispiness and convenience of griddlecakes. They can be reheated in a very hot oven at the last minute.

Serve these festive birds with roasted broccoli (as easy as steamed) and a wild rice pilaf with sliced green onions. Finish with caramel ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and chopped walnuts.

Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 25 min The flavor of fresh sage can be intense. You may want to start by adding 3 tablespoons of sage to the pesto, then taste after processing and add another tablespoon if you'd like a stronger flavor.

Maple syrup brings sweetness and warm color to the pork. Wild rice pilaf, brussels sprouts and a Gewürztraminer would be nice accompaniments.

Pumpkins may be all the rage just now, but we've noticed another squash that's garnering a lot of attention lately. The inconspicuous kabocha squash—too bumpy, squat, and unseasonably green to be taken seriously as porch décor—is finally being hailed for its inner beauty. With deeply flavored meat more fiery orange than that of its famous cousin, the kabocha caught the attention of several readers, all of whom wrote to request recipes from various restaurants for kabocha soup. Such an incipient following may portend great things. Is there a Great Kabocha? Not yet, Charlie Brown, but here's a great kabocha soup. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

This recipe is intended as a baked dressing to accompany the Thanksgiving turkey . It can be used as stuffing (a practice I do not recommend for turkey), if you desire. It also makes a good stuffing for capon or pork.

Purchased puff pastry simplifies this flavorful starter. What to drink: Open a bottle of Champagne or Sancerre to pour with the cheese twists and the Corn and Lobster Chowder.

Using pre-tenderized steak (labeled "cube steak" at the meat counter) makes this bistro-style dish extra succulent. Serve with: Hash browns and steamed broccoli. Dessert: Warm apple pie.

Tender Iowa corn was the inspiration for these terrific biscuits. They are best eaten the day they are baked; extras can be warmed up the next morning for breakfast or brunch. Be sure to serve them with plenty of butter.

Lady apples—a small, hard winter apple that's yellow with a reddish cheek—are often used decoratively but we love them for their flavor. They're widely available in markets this time of year. Said to be one of the oldest known apple varieties, they originated in the Forest of Api, France, during medieval times.

A salad, some crusty bread and wine are all that's needed with this hearty pasta dish. For the wine, consider serving a bottle of Chianti or Sangiovese.

Jim Fobel, cookbook author, says, "My mother always added lots of sage and nutmeg to her stuffing. I loved those flavors when I was a kid, and I still put them in the stuffings that I make today."

Ever since R.C Van Dyne from Wilmington, NC tasted farinata in Alessandria, Italy, he has been wanting to make it. We obtained this recipe from Rose Pistola restaurant in San Francisco, where they serve their own farinata. Farinata is a thin, crisp, pizzalike pancake made from chick-pea flour. When we called Rose Pistola, we were thrilled to learn that the recipe had already been reworked for the home cook by Peggy Knickerbocker, coauthor with chef Reed Hearon of The Rose Pistola Cookbook: 140 Recipes from San Francisco's Favorite North Beach Restaurant (out October, 1999 from Broadway Books). The following recipe makes three farinata, but they must be baked one at a time. We suggest opening a bottle of wine, hanging out in the kitchen with friends, and eating the farinata as they come out of the oven. For best results, use a 10-inch seasoned cast-iron round griddle, about 3/8-inch deep, that can hold about 1 cup batter. Farinata can be made in a regular cast-iron skillet, but it won't be quite as crisp or easy to remove.