A Carolina Thanksgiving
Hot Pepper Jelly
Robert Stehling makes huge batches of jelly to give as gifts. He serves it here with goat cheese and Sesame-Cornmeal Crackers, a savory version of the traditional sweet benne (sesame) wafers that are popular throughout the South. This intensely spicy condiment is also great as a barbecue sauce for grilled pork and chicken.
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Gumbo-Style Crab Soup with Okra and Tomatoes
This more delicate cousin of New Orleans gumbo is a spicier version of the crab soup Charleston is known for.
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Bacon-Roasted Turkey with Sweet-Onion Gravy
In keeping with his motto that “everything is better with bacon,” Stehling makes a bacon-herb paste that he stuffs under the turkey skin to produce an incredibly moist and smoky bird.
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Creamy Lima Bean Gratin
This deliciously rich gratin is Stehling’s take on the Southern casseroles he refers to as “church-supper dishes.”
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Sweet Potato Spoon Bread
Spoon bread, a cross between corn bread and soufflé, is a Southern classic. Stehling likes to add cooked spinach or fresh corn and chopped and sautéed bacon or ham to his plain sweet potato version.
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Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel
The pie, studded with pecans, gets a kick from two jiggers of bourbon. It can be made ahead and refrigerated overnight.