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That night when the exclusive intellectual assemblage had gathered around the dining table, the chef entered followed by his sous-chef, who carried a fine brown turkey.

The sous-chef lifted the platter and bowed to the chef, who gave a small bow, then reached out his right hand to me and asked me to stand. All the scholars and their mates and the director applauded the turkey, the chef, and me.

I learned that day that a respect for food and its preparation could obliterate distances between sexes, languages, oceans, and continents.

Roasted Turkey

SERVES 15 TO 20

One 15-17-pound turkey

1 tablespoon salt

Corn Bread Stuffing (p. 118)

½ cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 325°F. Wash turkey thoroughly, and pat dry.

Rub turkey’s neck and body cavities with salt. Lightly fill body cavity with Corn Bread Stuffing. Tie legs together with string. Stuff neck cavity lightly with stuffing. Draw neck skin over cavity to the back, and fasten with a skewer. Fasten wings behind back by bending tip ends under.

The turkey can be roasted in open pan or closed roaster, or wrapped in foil. Open-pan method is preferable and is described here.

Place turkey, breast side up, on wire rack in shallow pan. Insert roasting thermometer between thigh and body, avoiding bone.

Cover bird with cheesecloth dipped in melted butter. If cheesecloth dries during cooking time, spoon some of the drippings in pan over it.

Roast until thermometer registers 190°F, or until drumsticks can be moved up and down easily. When bird is done, remove cloth. Place turkey on a large hot platter. Let stand for about 20 minutes before carving, so the meat will absorb its own juices.

Corn Bread Stuffing

SERVES 8 TO 10

Turkey neck

Turkey wingtip

Turkey gizzard

Turkey liver

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 stalks celery, diced

1 small onion, diced

1 pan cooked corn bread, cooled (use Crackling Corn Bread recipe on p. 27, but omit cracklings)

4 tablespoons dried sage

1 tablespoon dried oregano

3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9 × 9-inch baking pan.

Place washed turkey parts in 4-quart pot. Add enough water to cover. Add salt, boil, and then let cool.

Into a large sautê pan, put oil, celery, and onion, and sautê until tender. Let cool.

Crumble corn bread, and add sage, oregano, and sautéed onion-and-celery mixture.

Strain turkey parts, reserving broth. Chop neck, gizzard, and liver meats. Pour broth and chopped meats into corn bread mixture. Add eggs, and mix well.

Add some stuffing to turkey cavity and some to neck cavity (see p. 117). Spoon rest of stuffing into greased baking pan, and cook for 30 minutes.

MISS ANNABELLE ROSS WAS A SWEETLY sympathetic figure. In her sixties she was prematurely old and had the manner of what southerners call a settled lady. Yet she was a coloratura soprano with Porgy and Bess, which meant that she was a member of a highly trained, largely young cast of opera singers who could, and did, belt out the blues just as easily as they sang bel canto Respighi, Verdi, and the art songs of Purcell.

She was not the only older singer in the group, but the others over age fifty entertained themselves by playing stud poker, keno, and cut-throat pinochle, which they called pig knuckles. They also drank their portion of gin martinis, Black & White scotch, and Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

Miss Ross played no games, nor did she drink or smoke. Until she was called on stage she sat closed inside her wall of niceness looking lost and very sad. I was twenty-six years old, and because I doted on my grandmother who doted on me I had a tender feeling for older women, the grandmotherly type.

Porgy and Bess was appearing at the Teatre Wagram in Paris, and I was the principal dancer and sang the role of Ruby. I doubled singing blues and calypso in nightclubs after the curtain fell at the opera.

I watched Miss Ross and wondered how I could raise her spirits. One early evening I went