Food & Wine USA - (12)December 2019

14 DECEMBER 2019

EDITOR’S LETTER

How We Holiday

HUNTER LEWIS

@NOTESFROMACOOK

[email protected]

WHAT IS LOVE IN THE MONTH OF DECEMBER? How about a bowl of perfectly

supremed Ruby Red grapefruit chilling in the refrigerator for breakfast? Or fat

and flaky biscuits, warm and shiny with melted butter? Sometimes love is the

unapologetically retro platters of sausage balls, or cheese balls, or almond snow-

balls dusted with powdered sugar on the kitchen counter. Or it’s the bleeding,

rare slices of smoked beef tenderloin with horseradish crème fra”che. It most

certainly is guinea hen braising in a bath of Dijon mustard, white wine, and

country ham–flavored stock with a pot of wild rice on the back burner ready

to report for sopping duty. Love is a nightly helping of oysters, morale-boosting

cook’s snacks slurped over the sink, plus one proper shrimp cocktail with pink

tails arched and fanned around a bowl of fancy cocktail sauce like two dozen

synchronized swimmers. It’s a slab of coconut cake and letterpress cookies for

later. And Calvados. There’s plenty to go around.

This is how the next month unspools at my kitchen island, where cooking

becomes a way we celebrate the holidays and our love for one another, with

recipes cooked faithfully, and shared joyfully, through the years.

How do you celebrate the holidays? That’s the call we put out to staff and

friends of Food & Wine at the beginning of 2019, and the answers could have

filled a cookbook. We winnowed them down to create this issue, a dinner party

playbook of sorts for the feasting season, like Quail with Sherry-Mushroom Gravy

(at right), the stunning Chocolate-and-Citrus Cassata on the cover (p. 122), or

our favorite retro suburban mom dips (p. 104).

A lot of butter, sugar, and chicken stock went into the making of this issue, by

the pound and by the gallon. A whole lot of love, too.

Quail with Sherry-Mushroom

Gravy

ACTIVE 55 MIN; TOTAL 1 HR 55 MIN

SERVES 6

Smothering is an old-school stewing tech-

nique that keeps pork roasts, game, and

chicken extra juicy. This version, a riff on

my mother-in-law Faye Price’s recipe, fea-

tures a light roux for a gravy that won’t

overwhelm the delicate flavor of the quail.

(^2) / (^3) cup all-purpose flour (about 2 (^7) / 8
oz.), divided
1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
(^1) / 2 tsp. black pepper
6 (3^1 / 2 -oz.) semi-boneless quail (such
as Manchester Farms) or bone-in,
skin-on chicken thighs, patted dry
(^1) / 2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
(5 oz.), divided
(^1) / 2 lb. fresh wild mushrooms, sliced
2 cups chicken broth
(^1) / (^2) cup dry sherry
Cooked long-grain rice, for serving
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley and
lemon zest, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir together^1 / 3
   cup flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow
   dish. Working with 1 quail at a time,
   dredge in flour mixture, shaking off
   excess, and transfer to a baking sheet,
   placing quail in a single layer. Set aside.


2. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skil-
   let over medium-high; arrange mushrooms
   in a single layer, and cook until bottoms are
   lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Stir and
   cook, stirring occasionally, until browned
   all over, about 5 minutes. Transfer mush-
   rooms to a bowl, and set aside.


3. Return skillet to heat over medium-high.
   Melt remaining^1 / 2 cup butter in skillet. Add
   3 quail. Cook, swirling skillet occasionally,
   until quail are lightly browned, 3 to 5 min-
   utes per side. Transfer to a 2-quart baking
   dish. Repeat with remaining 3 quail.


4. Add remaining^1 / 3 cup flour to drippings
   in skillet. Cook over medium-high, whisk-
   ing constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk
   in chicken broth and sherry, and return to
   a simmer. Reduce heat to medium, and
   whisk until gravy is thickened, about 2
   minutes. Stir in mushrooms. Pour gravy
   over quail; cover dish with aluminum foil,
   and bake in preheated oven until quail are
   cooked through and tender, about 1 hour.
   Divide rice among bowls; top each with 1
   quail. Season gravy with salt to taste, and
   spoon over quail; garnish with parsley and
   lemon zest. —HUNTER LEWIS
   WINE Herbal, earthy Chinon: 2014 Olga
   Raffault Les Picasses

We invite you to share your

celebrations on social media

using the hashtag #HowIHoliday;

we’ll repost our favorite festive

moments @foodandwine.

FOOD STYLING: EMILY NABORS HALL; PROP STYLING: AUDREY DAVIS

photography by GREG DUPREE