Every day of the year is a good time to experiment with new recipes. Except, arguably, one. Thanksgiving is when Grandpa's grease-spattered gravy recipe is pulled from the file and your mother-in-law makes the sweet, sticky pecan pie her grandchildren expect. The sweet potatoes are boiled and peeled for their annual bath of maple syrup, nuts and, yes, marshmallows. Some erstwhile creative home cooks and food professionals are just like everyone else at the Thanksgiving table. "While I create experimental, upscale meals regularly," says Daniel Traster, a culinary consultant in Washington, D.C., "I treat holidays as a chance to revert to the traditions." So his stuffing is the version from his childhood — bread, onion, celery, herbs and stock. Stuffing, in particular, is the dish through which many families express long-held traditions. Even Adam Rapoport, editor in chief of Bon Appetit , makes a version passed down to him from his mother, who got it from her mother: a mixture of store
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