[2] Pumpkin Tartlet (photo © The Daphne Baking Company [alas, now closed]).

If you’ve ever tried to scoop the flesh from a big, orange pumpkin and turn it into pie, you probably don’t want to do it again! Wrangling the fibrous pumpkin flesh isn’t easy.

But there is a solution, known to pumpkin pie bakers: butternut squash. It’s also the “pumpkin” you should ue in pumpkin flan and other pumpkin desserts.

To prove the superiority, author and cookbook writer Melissa Clark, a popular food writer at The New York Times, tested different squashes to determine for once and for all what the best choice is for a pumpkin pie.

She found that butternut squash tied with acorn squash for the best flavor, although butternut delivers better color.

Butternut squash is very easy to work with; the skin slips right off with a vegetable peeler. Her tasting notes are adapted below. You can read the full article here.

Why not take the easy road and use canned pumpkin? Fresh really does taste fresher and brighter, says Clark.

She’s done all the heavy lifting (and roasting, and scooping) to prove it. Her findings:

Acorn Squash: Honeyed, moist, not too fibrous.

Blue Hubbard Squash: Hard to cut through the rind, granular texture. The flavor was pleasing and delicate, but the flesh wasn’t as sweet as some of the others.

Butternut Squash: Deep and richly flavored, sweet, with relatively smooth flesh that is easy to purée. THE WINNER!

Carnival Squash: Neither tender nor sweet not tender.

Cheese Pumpkin: Unwieldy and heavy to carry home, difficult to through skin, granular and watery flesh. The bright, fresh flavor works for savory dishes but not for pie.

Delicata Squash: Mild, velvety flesh but not sweet enough for pie.

Kabocha Squash: Dense and velvety flesh but a vegetal flavor that is terrific for savory dishes.

Sugar Pumpkin (the “pie pumpkin): It’s neither sugary sweet nor very tender, but fibrous and bland tasting. Save them jack-o’-lanterns. (And they have the best seeds for roasting, says Clark).

Spaghetti Squash: Stringy, watery and not sweet enough for pie.
 

Check out the different types of squash in our Squash Glossary.

Plain stuffing with just the basics: bread,
celery and onions. It really needs some
augmentation. Mushrooms make a huge
difference. Photo courtesy McCormick.com.

Stuffing the cavity of animals with another dish is an ancient practice. The earliest documentary evidence is the Roman cookbook, “De Re Coquinaria,” “On Cooking, from about 100 C.E. (It is still in print, in English translation. Get a copy on Amazon.com.) The book contains recipes for stuffed chicken, hare, pig, and, yes, dormouse.

In addition to stuffing the body cavity of birds, fish and mammals, various cuts of meat are stuffed after they have been deboned, or a pouch has been cut into them. Examples include stuffed chicken legs, stuffed pork chops and stuffed breast of veal.

Vegetables can also be stuffed, from cabbage, where the individual leaves are stuffed and rolled, to potatoes and zucchini, where the flesh is removed, combined with other ingredients, and stuffed back into the shell.

Names for stuffing in the English language evolved as well. Wikipedia mentions farce (
1390), stuffing (1538), forcemeat (1688) and dressing. After 1880, the “stuffing” was replaced by “dressing” in Victorian English.

WHAT’S IN STUFFING?

Most of the stuffings described in “De Re Coquinaria” consist of vegetables, herbs and spices, nuts, spelt (also known as dinkel wheat or hulled wheat) or other grain. Other popular ingredients included brains, chopped liver and other organ meats.

Similar ingredients are still used today. The main difference is that bread is often the base into which the other ingredients are mixed. Turkey stuffing usually consists of day-old (or older) bread, cut into cubes or dried into croutons, mixed with celery, onion, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper and herbs such as sage or summer savory. Add-ins range from fruit and oysters to giblets and pancetta.

WHY ARE BOTH “STUFFING” & “DRESSING” USED IN THE U.S.?

There is a difference.

“Stuffing” is self-explanatory: The ingredients are stuffed into the cavity. But in the South, “dressing” is the prevailing term, even if the bird is stuffed in exactly the same way.

Why? Because old Southern tradition dictated that holiday fowl be hunted and cooked on the day of the feast itself. It was a time crunch to get the bird cleaned and cooked in time for dinner, and a hollow bird cooks faster than a stuffed bird. Thus, the side dish was not stuffed into the bird, but cooked alone.

In the process, stuffing is cooked at a higher temperature for a longer period than a separate pan of dressing; so it is usually drier. Older dressing recipes were created to have more of a sauce-like consistency, so it could be poured over the food.

So if the discussion arises at your Thanksgiving dinner, consider yourself prepared!

Justin’s makes delicious organic peanut butter cups in dark, milk and white chocolate. The salty peanut butter is a tasty counterpoint to the creamy, quality white chocolate. We’re hooked!

The white chocolate cups are available at Whole Foods Markets and other major retailers, as well as at Justins.com.

Learn more about Justin’s line of organic nut butters and PB cups at Justins.com. Peanut butter flavors include:
 
Almond Butter

 
Hazelnut Butter

 
Peanut Butter

The line is gluten-free and certified kosher by OU.
 
  

Each year at this time we get queries about the best wine to serve with turkey. Click over to see our list of “turkey wines”: delicious, affordable choices in red, white and sparkling wines.

One wine we left off of our original list is a crowd pleaser: rosé Champagne. The dark fruit flavors make it a delightful match for turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, butternut squash soup, roasted Brussels sprouts and the rest of the menu.
 
 
PARTY FAVORS

Not only will it thrill at the table; if you’re into nice party favors, you can use splits as place settings. Tie a ribbon around the neck and thread a card with the person’s name. We’ve seen rosé splits from Nicolas Feuillatte’s and Moet & Chandon and Pommery (from $12-$15); your retailer may have others.

But for only $10 for a full-size bottle, we really enjoy [yellow tail] Bubbles Rosé from Australia (yes, it’s spelled lower case and in brackets) and Martini Sparkling Rosé Wine from Italy.
 
 
DESSERT & BRUNCH

For dessert, the delicate sweetness of a demi-sec rosé, such as Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte’s D’Luscious and Moet & Chandon Nectar Imperial Rosé, pairs with most desserts. Those who don’t indulge in dessert—or have no room left for it—will enjoy sipping a glass.

Quarter bottles of Champagne are sparkling party favors. At left, Brut; at right, Brut Rosé. Photo courtesy Nicolas Feuillatte.

This recipe, from Emeril Lagasse, can be made sweeter by adding more juice and less Champagne—a proportion that also stretches the Champagne if you don’t have enough left over.

Ingredients For 4 Flutes

 
Preparation

1. PLACE 1 tablespoon of liqueur in each flute. Top with 2 tablespoons of grapefruit juice and 1/2 cup of Champagne.

2. GARNISH with a grapefruit wedge and serve.

Artisan granola specialist My Favorite Indulgence slow-roasts gourmet granola in small batches. The result is very flavorful, and crunchier than most granolas.

Flavors include Granola With Nuts, Nut Free Granola and Chocolate Mocha Granola. But a timely seasonal gift is the Pumpkin-Spiced Granola (it’s available year-round).

Made with certified non-GMO ingredients on a base of oats, the rich flavors derive from real pumpkin, spices (cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg), almonds, walnuts, dried cranberries, brown sugar and maple syrup.

A 10-ounce pouch is $9.95. There’s free shipping with a purchase of three pouches or more. Handsome gift wrapping is available.

Alas, the individual snack pack size is temporarily sold out, but keep checking: They make great stocking stuffers and party favors.

Get yours at MyFavoriteIndulgence.com.

THE HISTORY OF GRANOLA

Granola was invented as a healthy breakfast food in 1863 by Dr. James Caleb Jackson, owner of a sanatorium* in upstate New York. It was the world’s first dry, manufactured breakfast cereal.

At that time, the standard American breakfast was a cholesterol-laden hot meal of eggs, bacon, sausage and beef or chicken, hot cereal, biscuits, toast, butter and jam—a British tradition that evolved to fortify the gentry for a day of sport. (The less wealthy had a ready supply of eggs from their own eggs; fresh eggs also were easily accessible to city folk.)

Granula became granola when Dr. John Kellogg, who founded a sanatorium in the midwest, produced a similar product with the same name. So, “granola” was born of a trademark lawsuit.

Check out the history of granola and the difference between granola and muesli.
 
*Also spelled sanitorium and sanitarium, it indicates a medical facility for long-term illness. While many specialized in the treatment of tuberculosis and other diseases that were not curable before the advent of antibiotics and other medications, others catered to the affluent in a more spa-like environment, where their digestive problems and other discomforts were treated with a regimen of rest and good nutrition.