Stuffing Your Face

by Eric Diesel, Posted Nov 19th 2008 @ 6:07PM

mound of stuffing Whether you call it filling, dressing, or stuffing (and whether you know that, to some, there is a distinction between each); whether you make it from sourdough, cornbread, or white bread (or spelt if you're sensitive to wheat or are Ancient Roman); whether you embellish it with chestnuts, oysters, cranberries or chorizo; no Thanksgiving table is complete without stuffing.

It plumps up in the roasting turkey's cavity and then cozies up to the finished product on your plate -- and both benefit, as your taste buds do (though your waistline doesn't), from a generous dousing of gravy. Like meatloaf, there are as many recipes for it as there are cooks to prepare it, and, also like meatloaf, nearly every cook thinks theirs is definitive. To its fans, the reason we call it stuffing is not the technical definition -- a working understanding of which could be "any food that fills, at least theoretically, a cavity in another food" -- but the obvious fact that you "stuff" it into "your face."

The details of what constitutes a stuffing leave room for interpretation, experimentation, and seconds. First, not all holiday stuffings are cooked inside the bird -- in fact, there is some concern that this is not ideal. Many Thanksgiving cooks solve the problem by cooking some stuffing inside the bird, while baking a separate pan of stuffing in the same oven and knowing that none will go uneaten. Secondly, not all stuffings are for stuffing into a turkey: in French cooking, it is common to work a filling such as duxelles into the cavity or under the skin of a fowl; while stuffed cabbage is a cornerstone dish in middle European cooking. Mexican cooking gives us chiles rellenos, and mid-century American kitchens give us both stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes. Serious gourmets, gourmands, and gluttons might indulge in a turducken, but this is not the first instance of stuffing one food animal with another -- it was been present in the cooking of ancient and medieval Europe.

As you plan your Thanksgiving feast, here are some suggestions for stuffing your bird -- and your face.

Pepperidge Farms. If you can get past the display of Orange Milanos, remember that Pepperidge Farms also sells bread and bread cubes. Their recipe for stuffing will be familiar to most children of the American heartland -- it is the basic stuffing which graced many of the Thanksgiving tables of our childhood. For newer cooks, it is one of the easiest, and for experienced cooks, one of the easiest to experiment with.

Martha Stewart. At Martha's online Thanksgiving guide, there are recipes for several different stuffings -- you may want to try Pecan-Cornbread Dressing or Traditional Chestnut Stuffing, or stick with the simple and good basics.

AOL. AOL Food offers Thanksgiving tips, tools, techniques and recipes. Try any of the stuffings in the online recipe library, or browse online features addressing everything from side dishes to soul food.

Whole Foods. Thanksgiving can be a challenge for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with food sensitivies. Whole has an online library of holiday recipes, with a section on stuffings, dressings and gravies. As you'd expect from this megaretailer, there is a gluten-free version, even one made with quinoa.

Home cooks. Isn't it heartening to see home cooks using the internet to share memories, ideas and recipes? More than a few such write about Thanksgiving, including, of course, stuffing. Take a look at this heirloom stuffing recipe, or leave commentary below to share yours.

Filed Under: Lists, Fall Flavors, Real Kitchens, Ingredients, Holidays
Tags: america, comfort food, fall, fall flavors, real kitchens, stuffing, stuffing recipes, thanksgiving, thanksgiving stuffing

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-19-2008 @6:34PM Patricia said... My favorite is this one that I made just the other night. It's low carb (great for diabetics) and can be made with all local ingredients to the Pacific Northwest region. http://www.cooklocal.com/2008/11/countdown-to-thanksgiving-loca.html

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11-19-2008 @11:24PM Dr. Electro said... Thanks for the recipe, Patricia. I will definitely try it soon.

When I was a little kid, my mother thought the only fit filling for a bird of any feather was raisin dressing. Made with shite bread, raisins, a dash of seasonings and a splash or orange juice, this stuff is sweet and brings out the flavor of wild game birds very nicely.

However, for my turkey or chicken I do sage dressing from an ancient ancestor's recipe. It is heavenly. When I return to blogging I will post the recipe and let you all know in a comment.

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Now, eat until you can't move and then eat some more!! Dieting is for New Year's Day or after.
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11-19-2008 @11:58PM Sarah said... Make mine with toasted and cut bread. Takes a few minutes more but it is worth it! Then you can use whatever you like.
I love dried cranberries, fresh sage, unsalted butter and lots of low sodium chicken stock. And caramelized onions added in.....
I bake mine on the side. Don't like cavity stuffing. It always tastes off to me and I like my stuffing drier as well.

http://gazingin.wordpress.com/
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11-26-2008 @2:41PM Lee said... I've got a family bread dressing recipe that is awesome. Seems like it'd be a good base to dress up with chestnuts or oysters, but I'm too scared of ancestual spirits getting torqued at me.

My real contribution to the recipe is the presentation. I bake it in a bundt pan. Then, when the dressing is done, I can turn out out and it's beaufifully molded and looks great. in the past, I've also filled the hole in the bundt shape with anything from roasted and peeled chestnuts to cumquats.
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