Posted on 11/21/2022 6:05:39 AM PST by Red Badger
IF YOU HAVE FAMILY RECIPES POST THEM HERE!.............
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NATIONAL STUFFING DAY
November 21st is an ideal day for National Stuffing Day with Thanksgiving right around the corner. Since we are already thinking about the delicious turkey stuffing that is a traditional part of Thanksgiving dinner.
#NationalStuffingDay
Some cooks choose to stuff the bird with crusts of bread, vegetables, herbs, and spices. Others prefer to prepare a similar dish alongside the turkey using the drippings to moisten the dish. Either way, each preparation is a personal preference or family tradition. The difference is the first is called a stuffing, but the latter is referred to as a dressing.
The usual turkey stuffing consists of bread cubes or crumbs combined with onions, celery, salt, and pepper. Further spices and herbs such as summer savory, sage, or poultry seasoning add flavor and variety. Other recipes add sausage, hamburger, tofu, oysters, egg, rice, apple, raisins, or other dried fruits.
The first known documented stuffing recipes appeared in the Roman cookbook, Apicius “De Re Coquinaria.” Most of the stuffing recipes in this cookbook included vegetables, herbs and spices, nuts, and spelt (an old cereal). Some recipes also included chopped liver and other organ meat.
In addition to stuffing the body cavity of poultry and fish, various cuts of meat are often stuffed once deboned and creating a pouch or cutting a slit in them. A few examples of other meats frequently stuffed include pork chops, meatloaf, meatballs, chicken breast, lamb chops, and beef tenderloin.
Stuffing isn’t limited to the butcher block. Vegetables are excellent containers for stuffing. Peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and cabbage are just a few of the shapely veggies that make stuffing a fabulous part of your meals.
HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL STUFFING DAY
Who makes the best stuffing in your family? Some families debate this question and never settle the question. That’s why they end up with multiple versions on the table at the big meal. No one complains, though! How do you like your stuffing? Challenge yourself to try a new recipe. See if you can get the family to agree to breaking with tradition. Better get in the kitchen and test those stuffing recipes before the big day. Give your stuffing some holiday flair with this classic stuffing recipe. Use #NationalStuffingDay to post on social media.
NATIONAL STUFFING DAY HISTORY
National Day Calendar® continues researching the origins of this food holiday.
Stuffing FAQ
Q. What is the best bread to use when making stuffing?
A. Stale white bread is the best bread to make stuffing. Its fluffy porousness absorbs all the unctuous juices and savory herbs producing a stuffing that allows the ingredients to meld for outstanding flavor.
Q. Why does the bread need to be stale or dry?
A. Dry bread absorbs more flavor and holds up better when the juices are added. Fresh bread will turn to mush when the wet ingredients are added.
Q. How can I quickly dry my bread to make stuffing?
A. If you forgot to dry the bread a few days before making homemade stuffing, don’t fret. There are a couple of ways to get that bread ready.
First, cube the bread so more surface area is exposed to the air.
Overnight: Place bread cubes in a basket or on a baking sheet and cover with paper towels or cheesecloth. Place in a warm area and leave out overnight.
Oven method: Heat oven to 250°F and place baking sheet in the oven uncovered. Bake for 30-45 minutes.
This recipe makes a LOT. Sometimes I halve it.
CHOP IN CUISINART:
1 lb. bacon, chopped
1 lb. mild Italian sausage
2 large onions, chopped
2 heads celery
Saute’ for 15-20 minutes until some of the juices evaporate. Remove from heat.
Place sautéed items in large bowl and add the following:
2 loaves dried bread crumbs
½ C. instant milk, DRY
2 Tbs. poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
Sage to taste (3-4 Tbs.)
Mix everything together thoroughly with your hands.
After mixing, lightly toss in the following:
1 lb. whole cashews
2 cans sliced water chestnuts
A lot of people dislike the ‘sage’ taste.
It a lot like Goldilocks and the three bears story.
One says it’s too much sage.
One says it’s too little sage.
One says it’s just the right amount of sage..................
I remember from my childhood my aunt’s had the sage and herbs baked separately into cornbread in a cast iron skillet.
Then she would take the freshly baked cornbread and herbs and make the ‘dressing’ by adding the giblets and turkey juices and onions and celery and other things crumbled all together into a big baking pan and bake it all together again until it was brown on top...................
White bread?? Are they kidding? No, it’s cornbread all the way. A big pan of sweet cornbread, the stock off the turkey before it boils over into the oven, sage, celery, sage, boiled eggs, sage, onion, sage, salt and pepper and finally some sage. Get your hands in it and mush it all together. Bake until done.
Since our HEB hasn’t had any celery, eggs or karo syrup for the pecan pies for the holidays for the past couple decades, I’ve had our holiday dressing celery in the freezer since June. Got eggs at Wally World yesterday and still have a couple bottles of Karo from the case I bought years ago just to get ahead of the game.
Not playing this year’s turkey marketing game. We’ll be just as happy with a chicken. Also, not playing the ridiculously high priced wings game so will be cutting off the raw wings to add to the future batch of hot wings freezer bag. Sick and tired of all the games.
Don’t forget the sage..........................🤷♂️🤦♂️
You stuff a turkey so it’s stuffing. If it is served as a side it is dressing on the side. Simple enough but guess the radio had nothing important happening in the world to discuss.
It’s local radio, so they usually talk about county commissioners, school board and potholes........................
Baked separately is dressing.
Cooked inside something is stuffing.
I was in bed sick as a dog the year kiddo was a 4th grader. She made the entire feast from scratch by herself. She only asked me how much sage for the dressing and I mumbled, “more than you think” and had daddy pull the 20-something bird out of the oven for her. If a little kid can bake the pies the night before and put out the normal spread all on her own by noon, yeah, well, she learned well.
LOL, she admitted years later her trick for pie crusts is just to mix everything in the pie plate and mash it into shape. Less clean up.
INGREDIENTS
½ cup butter
1 cup white sugar
4 eggs
1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
5 slices white bread, cubed
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl.
Beat in eggs one at a time, then add pineapple and bread cubes.
Transfer the mixture to a greased 9-inch baking pan or dish.
Bake in preheated oven 1 hour.
Let stand a few minutes before serving.
fyi: Kroger is selling frozen whole turkeys for $.49/lb.
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