Posted on: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

ABOUT WOMEN
Holiday side dish a must-have

By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Staff Writer

And so the great Thanksgiving quest for creamed pearl onions begins.

Understand, I am not a great fan of creamed pearl onions, nor is anyone else in my household. But they do mix well with mashed potatoes, among other dishes. Come to think of it, just about anything mixes well with mashed potatoes.

Creamed pearl onions are served at our home once a year, at Thanksgiving, in honor of my late mother.

Believe me, it's a dish not easy to come by in Hawai'i. One Thanksgiving, at my mother's insistence, I visited a half-dozen markets searching for a frozen package of creamed onions. We settled for baby onions from the produce section mixed with a can of white sauce.

Another year, the best I could do was a package of creamed peas with pearl onions. I stopped short of picking the peas out of the mixture to satisfy tradition.

Here is why this matters: Our mothers gave us good manners, a sense of compassion for others, and soothing back-scratches in front of the TV. But perhaps we remember them most for their cooking — the made-from-scratch lasagna, fried chicken and pot roast, and most especially, for their holiday feasts.

I suspect this current generation of offspring, raised on Hot Pockets and Hamburger Helper, will have to latch on to something else to romanticize about their moms, God help us. My job generally does not permit me to plan and execute four-square meals during the work week, although under pressure I do make a mean open-faced tuna sandwich with melted cheese.

I try to make up for this on weekends by laboring on a hearty stew or some other dish that can simmer on the stove for hours, spreading its cozy aroma throughout the house. If I'm really on a tear, I may even bake cookies.

Now back to those cream-ed pearl onions.

Thanksgiving has a particularly strong connection to my mother because I managed to get along for the first 40 years of my life without cooking a bird. We either spent the holiday at Mom's or we flew her in to do the honors.

Eventually, the Thanksgiving mantle was passed to me, and it wasn't long before I began experimenting with a few adaptations, thanks mostly to the gang at the Food Network.

Emeril taught me to brine the turkey overnight for super-moist meat. One year, we even smoked the bird on a Weber grill.

I made my own cranberry relish for a few years, but no one appreciated the effort, and the canned stuff works just as well. Waldorf salad was another of my mom's holiday favorites, but I hate walnuts and didn't hear any complaints when it didn't make the cut.

That left only three notable holdovers from my mother's Thanksgiving table: those mashed potatoes, a basic onion-and-celery cornbread dressing — because, baby, it's all about the gravy — and creamed pearl onions.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.