Stuffing!
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Stuffing
Stuffing a turkey
Stuffed turkeyIn cooking, stuffing or dressing (specifically for poultry) is a substance used to fill a cavity in another food item. Many foods are stuffed, including meats, vegetables, and fruits.Mom's Turkey Stuffing
This is my grandmother's recipe, which my mother has been using to make our Thanksgiving turkey stuffing for more than 40 years. I've never tasted any turkey stuffing that has come close to as good as mom's. Although years ago we used to stuff the bird, these days we cook the stuffing separately. It is much easier to get an even cooking of the turkey (and safer too) if you do not stuff it. To infuse the stuffing with turkey flavor we simmer the giblets for an hour, and use that stock in the stuffing.Mom's Turkey Stuffing Recipe
Stuffing Ingredients
1 loaf of day old French bread, cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 10-12 cups)1 cup walnuts
2 cups each, chopped onion and celery
6 Tbsp butter
1 green apple, peeled, cored, chopped
3/4 cup of currants or raisins
Several (5 to 10) chopped green olives (martini olives, the ones with the pimento)
Stock from the turkey giblets (1 cup to 2 cups) (can substitute chicken stock)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning or ground sage (to taste)
Salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)
Stuffing Method
1 If you haven't already made the stock, take the turkey giblets - heart and gizzard - and neck if you want, and put them in a small saucepan, cover with water and add a little salt. Bring to a simmer; simmer for about an hour, uncovered. Strain the stock into a container for use with the stuffing. Alternatively, you can use chicken stock or just plain water with this recipe.2 Toast the walnuts by heating them in a frying pan on medium high heat for a few minutes, stirring until they are slightly browned (not burned) OR put them in the microwave on high until you can smell the aroma of them toasting, about a minute or two. Let them cool while you are toasting the bread, then roughly chop them.
3 Heat a large sauté pan on medium heat. Melt 3 Tbsp butter in the pan, add the bread cubes, and stir to coat the bread pieces with the melted butter. Then let them toast; only turn them when they have become a little browned on a side. Note, if you aren't working with somewhat dried-out day-old bread, lay the cubes of bread in a baking pan and put them in a hot oven for 10 minutes to dry them out first, before toasting them in butter on the stove top. The bread should be a little dry to begin with, or you'll end up with mushy stuffing.
4 In a large Dutch oven, sauté chopped onions and celery on medium high heat with the remaining 3 Tbsp butter until cooked through, about 5-10 minutes. Add the bread. Add cooked chopped walnuts. Add chopped green apple, currants, raisins, olives, parsley. Add one cup of the stock from cooking the turkey giblets or chicken stock (enough to keep the stuffing moist while you are cooking it). Add sage, poultry seasoning, salt & pepper.
5 Cover. Turn heat to low. Cook for an hour or until the apples are cooked through. Check every ten minutes or so and add water or stock as needed while cooking to keep the stuffing moist and keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Stuffing history
It is not known when stuffings were first used. The earliest documentary evidence is the Roman cookbook Apicius, which contains recipes for stuffed chicken, hare, pig, and dormouse. Most of the stuffings described consist of vegetables, herbs and spices, nuts, and spelt (an old cereal), and frequently contain chopped liver, brains, and other organ meat.In the Middle Ages, stuffing was known as farce (from the French); the root of the word 'forcemeat'. The term 'stuffing' is first attested in 1538. After about 1880, the term stuffing was replaced by dressing in Victorian English. Both terms are used today, occasionally to differentiate between varieties.
Foods that are stuffed
Stuffed orange pepperIn addition to stuffing the body cavity of animals, including mammals, birds, and fish, various cuts of meat may be stuffed after they have been deboned or a pouch has been cut into them. Popular recipes include stuffed chicken legs and stuffed breast of veal, as well as the traditional holiday stuffed goose or turkey.Many types of vegetables are also suitable for stuffing after their seeds or marrow has been removed. Tomatoes, capsicums (sweet or hot peppers), and vegetable marrows (zucchini) may be prepared in this way. Cabbages and similar vegetables can also be stuffed or wrapped around a filling. They are usually blanched first, in order to make their leaves more pliable. Then, the interior may be replaced by stuffing, or small amounts of stuffing may be inserted between the individual leaves.
The stuffing mixture may be cooked separately and served as a side dish, in which case it may still be called 'stuffing', or in some regions, such as the Southern US, 'dressing'.
Types of stuffing
Almost anything can serve as a stuffing. Many popular Anglo-American stuffings contain bread or cereals, usually together with vegetables, herbs and spices, and eggs. Middle Eastern vegetable stuffings may be based on seasoned rice, on minced meat, or a combination. Other stuffings may contain only vegetables and herbs. Some types of stuffing contain sausage meat, or forcemeat, while vegetarian stuffings sometimes contain tofu. Oysters are used in one traditional stuffing for Thanksgiving. These may also be combined with mashed potatoes, for a heavy stuffing.Animals stuffed with other animals
Stuffed debar carp with potatoesIt is occasionally claimed that the ancient Roman, as well as medieval, cooks stuffed animals with other animals. An anonymous Andalusian cookbook from the 13th century includes a recipe for a ram stuffed with small birds (recipe). A similar recipe for a camel stuffed with sheep stuffed with bustards stuffed with carp stuffed with eggs is mentioned in T.C. Boyle's book Water Music.The turducken, a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken is a more recent creation.
British celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has championed the ten-bird roast, calling it "one of the most spectacular and delicious roasts you can lay before your loved ones at Yuletide". A large turkey is stuffed with a goose, duck, mallard, guinea fowl, chicken, pheasant, partridge, pigeon and woodcock. The roast feeds around 30 people and as well as the ten birds, also includes stuffing made from two pounds of sausage meat and half a pound of streaky bacon along with sage, port and red wine.
