It’s officially the holiday season, which means it’s the best time of the year to test your skills baking gingerbread cookies for the first time, and romanticize roasting chestnuts on an open fire.

My grandmother Ginny's signature dish was quail braised with chestnuts, served on polenta or grits. She was Louisianan and had emigrated to Italy, and I suppose the dish — game, cornmeal and the ...