Wild Rice

Dried pears lend a subtle sweetness to the deep, earthy taste of this stuffing.

For more information about cooking wild rice, see Born to Be Wild. Active time: 1 3/4 hr Start to finish: 3 1/2 hr

One surprise to Europeans who settled the plains was the abundance of wild mushrooms, including morels, chanterelles, and other varieties familiar from home. Free for the picking, the mushrooms were hung on strings and dried, providing a winter's worth of eating. Wild rice (actually a grass seed) is a New World native that combines well with the earthy mushrooms the French cèpes. (The Italians call them porcini, and they are easier to find than cèpes, which is why we call for porcini in this recipe.)

Three classic heartland ingredients — corn, smoked sausage and wild rice — combine to give this appealing first-course soup its sweet-spicy flavor and interesting texture.

The flavor of the stuffing complements most fowl--there is enough here to stuff a 12-pound turkey or six game hens. The stuffing is also delicious as a side dish with roast pork or as a filling for cabbage rolls.

Mary Risley, the director of Tante Marie's Cooking School, says, "I come from a family of Connecticut Yankees, and when I was growing up, I spent every Thanksgiving at my grandparents' eighteenth-century home, which was right across from a turkey farm. I’m not quite sure how, but something in that experience inspired this recipe. (Maybe the ingredients reflect what a turkey would like to eat, if asked.)"

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.

At Thanksgiving, rice stuffings are standard on many southern tables. This one, a combination of white rice and wild rice, gets more regional notes from collard greens, pecans and ham.