Community Cookbook: Make apple dressing with Everett Reed from Marble Hill, Mo.

Everett Reed says he grew up as a typical farm kid in Marble Hill, Mo., learning to hunt, fish and garden from a young age. Living in a blended family and the oldest of nine children, finances were tough. By the time he reached high school, Reed says he knew his options were limited; people were either “hogging, logging or leaving.” But at 15 years old, the kindness of Kelly Francis, a gentleman from Bollinger County, made him hungry to see what opportunities were available outside of his hometown.

“He sent me to a leadership conference,” Reed says. “It was the first time I’d ever been away from home, and it gave me an inkling that there was something outside of what I knew growing up.”

While Reed never found out why he was chosen to attend the leadership conference in Kansas City, Mo., he says the trip changed the trajectory of his life. After graduating from Woodland High School, he joined the service, spending two and a half years in the Navy Reserves and eight years in the United States Coast Guard.

It was during that time that Reed became a marine diesel mechanic and learned structural engineering skills that would propel his career forward. He also learned to cook.

“I worked closely with a few cooks in the Coast Guard,” Reed says. “The crews were small, so for a large meal, we would jump in the galley and help the cook out. I developed an enjoyment for doing it. Then, I went to [work on] the riverboats, and the cooks are good there, as well. I learned a lot from those guys.”

One of Reed’s favorite side dishes is an apple dressing he learned to make while in the Coast Guard. He remembers the holidays were approaching, and the crew had an abundance of apples they needed to use. Reed took a basic dressing recipe, added the apples and made it sweeter. Reed says the recipe, which he has changed over the years, is dual purpose and can also be used as a stuffing.

“Stuffing [dressing] is great, because what you have is what you use,” Reed says. “White bread, leftover biscuits, sourdough — we put stale pieces in the freezer [throughout the year], and it becomes comfort food when you need it.”

From riverboats to dredging to oil spill response management for a contractor to the Alaskan pipeline, Reed has traveled around the world and back again. And while his mechanical skills developed, so did his culinary style. Volume and speed may have been important for feeding a large crew, but today, Reed says taste, texture and locally-sourced ingredients are his top priority. Whether cooking at home or in his new luncheonette and soda shop EC Reed’s Mercantile in Marble Hill, Reed and his wife, Christy, make it all from scratch.

“There’s nothing out of a box or can here,” Reed says. “It’s all made in-house. If we can’t get it locally, we may go out of state. If we can’t get it in the States, we just won’t have it.”

Recently, stuffed pork chops using Reed’s apple stuffing were on the menu at the luncheonette. Reed says he enjoys seeing other people’s faces when they get to eat the food he prepares and considers it validation for the work he puts in. He also hopes a young person might see what he’s done and feel curious enough to believe they have other options in life, too. He hopes they realize they may move away for a time, but eventually come back and invest in their community, like he has.

“There’s a misconception in Bollinger County that we are less than the communities that surround us,” Reed says. “But having spent time with people all over the world, these are some of the best people per capita that I’ve ever been around.”

Apple Dressing

8 cups stale white bread, cubed

1 cup cornbread, crumbled

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon rosemary

3 tablespoons poultry seasoning

2 cups finely-diced celery

1½ cups finely-diced onion

2 cups finely-diced baking apples

½ stick butter

3 eggs, beaten

3 cups chicken stock

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon sage

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in a pan, adding onion, celery, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves, until tender. Then add apples and chicken stock. Set to simmer, then pull from heat. In a large bowl, add bread and cornbread. Toss with poultry seasoning, sage, salt and pepper. Add eggs, and toss until coated. Combine pan ingredients to bread mixture, salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a 12x13-inch, deep pan greased with butter, and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 10 minutes until top is browned.