Wide Open Table is a bi-monthly Montana Free Press column on all things food and cooking. Sign up for this newsletter here. Sign up By this time of year, you start to see large displays at grocery stores featuring big roasters, turkey basters, canned pumpkin and cranberries, cream of mushroom soup, crispy fried onions, and premade pie crusts. You will also undoubtedly see an entire end of an aisle dedicated to one of the most popular sides of the season: boxed stuffing. I’m not here to shame anyone who gravitates toward this boxed, herby, cubed-bread tradition that screams convenience. It’s actually delicious. And when you’re cooking your bird, mashing an inordinate amount of potatoes, baking pies, and trying not to burn the marshmallows on the yams, I don’t blame people for wanting something easy and predictably beloved. No judgment!While the box says “stuffing,” it could just as easily say “dressing.” The terms are used interchangeably, but there are a few key differences. Stuffing implies it’s going inside the bird (or something like a stuffed pork chop) while dressing is usually cooked in a casserole dish. Since stuffing is placed into uncooked meat and absorbs some of the juices, it can be quite flavorful. You also need to make sure the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F if you are placing it inside a turkey. I am mostly a dressing person, mostly due to my preference for the texture. When your ingredients get assembled and piled high in a baking dish, the edges and top get crunchy while you maintain the soft interior for maximum contrast. Look around the United States and you will find plenty of variations on stuffing/dressing that incorporate local ingredients: oysters often get added in New England and New Orleans, cornbread can be found in the South and Southwest, wild rice is tossed into dishes in the Midwest, and sourdough bread is prevalent in California. Over the years, as I’ve developed my own versions of holiday classics, I have come up with a dressing/stuffing recipe that leans a bit Italian while also relying on the traditional herbs we often smell at Thanksgiving, like parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (cue the song). Our little family in Clancy does not always cook a giant 15-pound bird to feed the few of us on Thanksgiving, so we often opt for the dressing preparation. If you choose the stuffing route, this recipe works beautifully as well. Credit: Jon Bennion / MTFPI believe the very best dressing needs to combine the right bread, evocative aromatics, plenty of fall-leaning herbs, some fat for flavor, a bit of texture, and a pop of sweetness. That is how I developed this “Intermediate Chef Dressing,” which has become standard fare for every holiday menu I craft. To create it, I pulled from a variety of influences. I use crusty baguettes that I cube and allow to become stale overnight before I make the dish. The pancetta and pine nuts are Italian imports that deliver flavor and texture. Craisins are a sweet little treat from the Americas that make it interesting. I also pack in three kinds of herbs, which are essential for any dressing. The amount of broth can vary, depending on your bread. I would start with a few cups, then stir well and continue to add in half-cup portions. You don’t want any dryness left in your bread, but you are also not making bread soup. I used roughly four cups total with my stale French bread, but you can adjust as you see fit.  You want to make sure to appropriately season your stuffing/dressing with salt and pepper. Some of your ingredients — pancetta, broth, and butter — will bring their own saltiness to the equation. I would salt and pepper your onions, celery, and shallots when those are frying, and include some more when everything is getting mixed. One other piece of advice (based on many bad experiences): Those pine nuts can use a bit of toasting. The difference between toasted pine nuts and burned pine nuts can be about 15 seconds, so don’t leave them unsupervised. Preheat your pan on medium-low and add the nuts. After a minute, move them around a bit to see if they are browning. Once you start seeing golden brown, take them out of the pan until you need them. This will save you a Thanksgiving Day grocery run because you burned the pine nuts. Ask me how I know. This recipe may serve as just a starting point for your own take on holiday dressing/stuffing, and I support that 100%. Who knows, a hundred years from now your great-great-grandchildren may be sitting around the table talking about the family recipe you created and passed down to them. INTERMEDIATE CHEF DRESSING RECIPE400 grams (14 ounces) stale baguette cubed into inch to half-inch pieces 1/3 cup lightly toasted pine nuts 1 small onion or half large onion (200 grams)2 stalks of celery (150 grams)2 shallots (75 grams)1 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley1/2 cup craisins5 ounces diced pancetta4 cups turkey or chicken broth1 large egg3 tbsp salted butter, plus extra for buttering the dishTopping: more freshly chopped Italian parsleySauté the pancetta in a large frying pan until there’s just a bit of browning on the edges. Remove the pancetta and place in a large bowl with the stale cubed bread, craisins, and chopped rosemary, parsley, thyme, and sage. In the same frying pan, sauté celery, shallots, and onion in butter on medium-low until soft. It will take about 20 minutes and requires some occasional stirring. You don’t want the vegetables to brown. Add the cooked veggies to the large bowl with the other ingredients. Lightly toast the pine nuts in a small frying pan (don’t let them burn!) and then add them to the large bowl. Allow the contents to cool to room temperature. Beat one large egg and pour it into the bowl. Ladle in four cups of broth and mix well to get the herbs, craisins, and pine nuts all around. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Place the combined stuffing/dressing ingredients in a buttered 9×13 casserole dish and cover with foil. Bake for half an hour with the foil on. Remove the foil and cook for another half hour, or until it reaches your desired crispiness on top. Top with a bit more chopped Italian parsley. Credit: Jon Bennion / MTFPThe post Are you Team Dressing or Team Stuffing? appeared first on Montana Free Press.