Franklin woman vies for stuffing title

FRANKLIN – Linda Hoglund knows stuffing.

The Franklin woman has been cooking up a Maine seafood stuffing for family holidays for a decade and now hopes to serve her Down East family’s seafood stuffing live on national TV to celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse.

Hoglund is one of five finalists in Lagasse’s Stuffing Showdown contest on the ABC morning show “Good Morning America.” And if she gets enough online votes for her stuffing recipe, she’ll be on her way to New York City as one of three finalists to appear on the show Friday to prepare their dishes for Emeril and an audience of millions.

Several weeks ago, Lagasse asked GMA viewers to send in their favorite stuffing recipe. Hundreds of people from around the country sent in recipes, and Lagasse and the GMA staff narrowed them down to their five favorites.

Hoglund, 48, is a longtime GMA watcher and a big fan of the “kick-it-up-a-notch” TV chef.

“Since I was 20 years old, with two kids, I’ve taken an hour or two every morning,” she said. “They give me what I need to know and I like the people on there – Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts, Charlie Gibson. I like them all.”

Earlier this year, she missed Emeril’s “best burger” contest while visiting her daughter in California. She wasn’t about to miss the stuffing showdown.

“When they announced the best stuffing contest, I said, ‘I’m not missing that,”‘ she said. “I know stuffing.”

Though not a born cook, Hoglund learned at her mother’s elbow from the time she was about 5 years old.

“Every time she cooked something … I was on a stool and I had my own cooking pans. I made the same thing she made.”

By the time she was 16, she was cooking for the “rich and wealthy” on Mount Desert Island where she grew up, and spent one summer cooking for Mary Rockefeller.

She met her husband, Todd, a cook himself and a lobsterman, in a restaurant in Trenton. About 11 years ago, they came up with their seafood stuffing.

“We did it for the kids,” she said. “They love seafood. We had our own surf and turf turkey. It’s all Maine seafood, and the turf is the turkey.”

The base of the stuffing is, of course, seafood, all Maine scallops, shrimp and crab legs, mixed with Ritz crackers, breadcrumbs, onions, garlic, celery, peppers and eggs. It is a traditional part of the Hoglund family Thanksgiving, as well as other times of the year. The thing about the stuffing, Hoglund said, is that it is not just for turkey.

“It’s a universal stuffing,” she said. “We use it on pork chops, mushrooms, chicken breast, and in a casserole dish we use it as a main dish.”

At Christmas, they have stuffed lobster, with the seafood stuffing.

Hoglund said she entered the contest so she could introduce the rest of the country to Maine seafood.

“All of the recipes on Emeril are all down south; I wanted to put Maine on the map,” she said. “We know we have the best seafood. I wanted to show America that they can have variety, that they can put it in stuffing. If they don’t have Maine seafood they can adapt it to the seafood they have in their area.”

Hoglund entered the contest almost a month ago, but it wasn’t until last Tuesday that she heard back from GMA.

“On Tuesday, “Good Morning America” called and told me I was in the top 10,” she said. “They called an hour later and told me I was in the top five.”

That set off a flurry of activity, buying ingredients and whipping up not one, but two batches of stuffing, and putting together a four-minute video of the process and getting it to New York. All in one day.

“It was pretty busy around here,” she said.

Now, it’s a waiting game. The three finalists will be chosen jointly by Emeril and the GMA staff and by audience members who vote online for their favorite recipe. Hoglund is confident, but says she faces some real competition and needs people to vote.

“Three of the recipes are cornmeal stuffing and Emeril is a fanatic about cornmeal,” she said. “Votes count. I’ve had some favorable comments, but not from the southern people. I’m counting on northern New England people to call in.”

Voting can only be done on-line. The deadline is Tuesday. The ultimate winner of the contest will be announced on Friday during the live broadcast.

To vote and see all the recipes, go to http://abcnews.com and click on “Good Morning America.”