Many people are traveling home for Christmas or other family gatherings this weekend. For some this is an easy time, something they look forward to. For others it can be challenging, fraught with tension. For those, what can be safe to talk about?

Perhaps, it’s a visit to the past, telling stories about the family when times were not so difficult. Or maybe, it’s recounting a sweet moment when things came together in just the right way. Or looking back on a time when everything went wrong with the turkey, a disaster that led to hysterical laughter. Perhaps it’s the sweet sentimental thing your grandmother said at family gatherings, that you all teased her about but were secretly glad she said it.

Perhaps it’s the food, a special family recipe, with that secret step or unexpected ingredient that makes all the difference. Such as NPR’s Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg’s mother-in-law’s cranberry relish recipe with its surprising 2 tablespoons of horseradish.

For years, Stamberg has worked the recipe into a Thanksgiving story on NPR. This year, the recipe shared the stage with chef and cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey’s cranberry chutney. Stamberg shockingly reported that “While I love Mama Stamberg’s relish, this is not my favorite cranberry side dish. That honor belongs to actor, chef and cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey and her cranberry chutney. It’s a sweet/sour mix of canned cranberries with berries, garlic, apple cider and much more. Jaffrey told me her creation was a total accident.”

Here a long-cherished (odd and unchanging) family recipe made room for a delicious accidental dish. That, too, is a story well worth telling.