BOOK REVIEW: MRS. CUBBISON’S BEST STUFFING COOKBOOK OFFERS SAVORY RECIPES FOR THANKSGIVING AND YEAR-ROUND

By Miriam Raftery

Mrs. Cubbison’s Best Stuffing Cookbook, by Leo Pearlstein and Lisa Messinger (Square One Publishers, 2005)
 

November 22, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – I grew up in a home where Mrs. Cubbison’s stuffing mix was a staple at every holiday meal. So imagine my delight to discover that there is an entire 149-page Mrs. Cubbison’s Best Stuffing Cookbook chock-full of savory traditional stuffing recipes as well as creative variations for stuffing just about anything!

Sophie Cubbison grew up on a ranch, where by age 10 she was cooking up fare for a crew of 40 men served up on a horse-drawn cook wagon. A 1912 home economics graduate, she opened a bakery and invented Melba toast stuffing mix in 1948, which became a national sensation. She also ran a health food store long before these were in vogue.

Mrs. Cubbison appeared on early TV cooking shows, demonstrating how to make stuffings for poultry, meat and seafood as well as stuffing side dishes.

The book even has a chapter on low-fat, fruit and vegetable stuffing as well as “stuffing in disguise” including sautéed mushroom quich hors d’ouevres with homemade stuffing crust and a maple yam pie.

You’ll find tips for classic stuffing success, whether a variation on seasoned or cornbread stuffings cooked up in the oven, on the stove, or in the microwave. Among the mouth-watering options are apricot-stuffed Cornish game hens, oyster and herb stuffing, shrimp and crab stuffing, fillet of sole with white wine roll-ups, and many more.

There are ethnic variations: Mexican red mole stuffing, German-style apple and sausage stuffing, , Italian sausage and fennel stuffing, Chinese shitake mushroom stuffing, and Hawaiian tropical stuffing, to name just a few. You’ll learn how to stuff artichokes, tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms and much more.

Messinger is an award-winning syndicated cookbook reviewer and food cover story writer for San Diego’s own Copley News Service. She has also authored seven cookbooks. Leo Pearlstein is president of Lee & Associates in Los Angeles and its home economics division, Western Research Kitchens, as well as a longtime friend of Sophie Cubbison and the author of Celebrity Stew and Recipes of the Stars.

“Although Mrs. Cubbison is no longer with us, her legacy lives on,” the authors write, “bothi n her famous stuffing mix and in this first-ever Mrs. Cubbison’s cookbook. Our hope is that it will make your kitchen as inviting as Sophie’s always was.”