SFoodie's series asking some of our favorite San Francisco food people about the dish they just can't celebrate Thanksgiving without.
In her new role as the chef at Gitane, Bridget Batson ― who worked for a decade under David Gingrass at Hawthorne Lane and TWO ― has earned the rapturous press every chef dreams of. SFoodie asked Batson yesterday about whether she gets to take Thanksgiving off, and if so, how she celebrates it.
Batson: I'm usually off on Thanksgiving. My husband [Patrick Kelly, chef of Angèle in Napa] is off, too, but we're so exhausted that we just cook steak on Thanksgiving. Then we do a big dinner that Sunday for a few friends and family. Last year, my husband knew a chef at Harris' steakhouse on Van Ness, so he got a humongous New York strip from there. It was so big we couldn't finish it! We ate it with braised collard greens.
For the Sunday meal, the dish I have to make is stuffing with fennel sausage. When I was working at Hawthorne Lane, we did Thanksgiving to go, and started doing it there. We made this great sausage in house. I used to make my own, but for the past few years I haven't. I like to put some nice tart apples in there, then serve it with a jus made with some cider. I cook macaroni and cheese and yams, too.
SFoodie: Do you cook the stuffing in the bird or outside?
Batson: Definitely outside the bird. We usually take the backbone out
of the turkey so it doesn't take as long to cook. Before roasting it, we lift up the
skin and slide pats of butter underneath. I've added
herbs, too, which looks great.
The other advantage of baking the stuffing in a pan: the crusty edges. Got to have crusty edges.
Other Thanksgiving essentials in this series:
-Jonathan Kauffman's Brussels sprouts with prosciutto
-Jun Belen's stuffing balls
-John Birdsall's braised turkey legs with polenta
-Roger Feely's relleno negro
-James Freeman's wonky turkey roasting with lots of coffee
-Marcia Gagliardi's giblet gravy
-Irvin Lin's green bean casserole
