Celery

This recipe is from my favorite grandmother, DeeDee. According to my mother, it has many variations, and my grandmother always served it with great presentation at parties, family dinners, and ladies luncheons. The recipe has high stakes: You get but one chance when you unmold it. Just recently I recall overhearing my mother exclaim "Damn!" as she was getting the salad ready for yet another meal. It was runny — not enough time in the refrigerator.

Brussels sprouts sautéed with bacon are good served alongside. Pour a Zinfandel, Syrah or Chardonnay during the meal.

Braised pork shoulder, spicy Italian sausage, and pancetta enrich the tomato sauce. Dried crushed red pepper kicks up the heat.

Active time: 1 3/4 hr Start to finish: 4 1/4 hr (includes making stock and rouille)

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 12 hr (includes chilling)

Watch how to prepare and carve your bird with our streaming video demonstration.

When making the following dish, start one or two days ahead to allow time for marinating the pheasant and making stock. The extra time involved, much of it unattended, is necessary to develop the rich flavors of this savory pie. For those who want to forgo the pheasant, the pie would also be delicious (and less time-consuming) made with chicken. Substitute 1 pound chicken thighs, 1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breasts, and chicken broth; marinate the chicken and prepare the pie in the manner outlined below.

This stuffing is perfect for the Roast Turkey with Herb Butter and Caramelized Onion-Balsamic Gravy

Lots of mushrooms and bacon flavor this traditional bread stuffing. It goes well with the Roast Turkey with Bacon, Tarragon and Applejack Gravy.

You will need to bake the Buttermilk Corn Bread and allow it to cool before you begin preparing this stuffing.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This is probably the simplest soup ever made from scratch: you just throw everything into the pot at once and walk away. The rice cooks in the pot along with the chicken long enough to give its starches over for extra body. Everything you dislike about brown rice — its starchiness and heaviness — works to advantage here. It turns soft and almost falls apart but still has texture. Don't substitute white rice, because it would get mushy. This soup may not be beautiful, but it sure is good.

This simple apple salad got its name from the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Invented in 1896 not by a chef but by the maître d'hôtel Oscar Tschirky, the Waldorf salad was an instant success. As often happens, many variations evolved—some with raisins, some with chopped nuts. This one has green apples and red seedless grapes.

This celery looks very much like the variety found in most supermarkets, but its stems are thinner and it has an abundance of leaves that resemble Italian parsley. Cooking mellows Chinese celery's pronounced flavor — for a stir-fry, it's often blanched first. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr