Well, it turns out I’ll be spending a quiet Thanksgiving with my boyfriend. I’m planning to make a scaled-down version of the big meal, including stuffing. Now, I’ve done Thanksgiving dinner before and already have my grandmother’s basic stuffing recipe, so all I need are some ideas to spice it up a bit, because it’s sort of boring.
Here’s the recipe I’m starting off with-
Stale (or lightly toasted in oven) bread, broken into little bits
Chopped onion
Minced garlic
Eggs
Butter
Salt and pepper
Basically, sautee the onion and garlic in lots of butter, add it to the bread and mix it all up with your hands. Throw in a few eggs and mix that up, then season with salt, pepper, or extra garlic (powder) to taste. I have no idea of exact measurements, I know what it’s supposed to look and taste like.
But, as you can see, it’s boring so I’d like to try something different. How can I tweak it to make it fantastic? No oysters, please, and I’m not sure how I feel about sausage. What do you suggest? Nuts? Sage? Celery? Gimme some ideas.
Best suggestion so far. Also, perhaps add some minced celery. You can substitute Jimmy Dean sage sausage for the sweet Italian above. Crumble and cook before adding.
Add some chopped celery and I also like to chop up an apple in my stuffing. A handful of fresh cranberries added also looks really festive - they are tart so don’t add too many.
Sage and celery, most definitely. Personally, I’d ditch the eggs and garlic. Moisten it with chicken stock, or better yet, water in which you’d boiled the turkey neck.
But without eggs, what will keep it sticking together? I’m used to stuffing that’s a solid lump of doughiness. That really doesn’t sound appetizing, I don’t know a better way to convey that. Stuffing that crumbles into little bits (like Stove Top) is gross to me.
The apple and cranberry sounds good, although I’ve got Craisins, not fresh cranberries… Mushrooms: maybe, depending on what kind. I’m still kind of ambivalent about the sausage- I like sausage, but just can’t picture it in stuffing.
I find that, if you use enough liquid and a good dense white bread (challah is good), stuffing will stick together even without egg.
I find that fresh bread works pretty well, actually. If you want a solid lump of doughiness rather than crumbles, you may be better off with untoasted fresh bread, and may want to break it into smaller bits than most stuffing mix comes in. Get a loaf of something good (sliced or unsliced) and chop it up in the food processor. Using a crusty bread can give you some textural contrast, if you want that.
Just don’t use sourdough. I tried that, once.
Not the kind of substitution I’d try.
It’s a question of what you can get at a reasonable price, especially now. Sliced white button mushrooms work just fine, though. Saute the mushrooms before mixing them with the bread.
One of the things I’m loving about living in Pennsylvania is that the grocery stores have packages of a mix of several kinds of fresh mushrooms, so my mushroom stuffing turns out gooood…
This is what my sister calls “gray wiggly dressing,” and she has become the master at preparing it. I make cornbread dressing and moisten it with broth. It doesn’t call into crumbs like Stove Top, but it’s not at all like “gray wiggly.” Eggs definitely make dressing almost custardy.
Toasted pecans or hazelnuts would be another nice addition.
One key difference between my stuffing recipe that doesn’t use egg and yours: I put a mix of olive oil and chicken stock (I keep kosher, so I can’t use butter) in after I mix the bread and veggies. If you want stuffing that sticks together, make sure the ball of uncooked stuffing is moist enough to not fall apart. Then spread it out in a Pyrex pan or stuff it in the turkey (I always do mine in a pan, because I’m usually just cooking a turkey breast).
I have done stuffing with pine nuts and pesto (without cheese). It was good.
Stuffing doesn’t really need binder (you’re not making sausage). If you moisten it well with stock, the turkey will do the rest. If you like your stuffing more lumpy than crumbly, pack it more tightly into the cavity. I would echo the use of fresh bread, rather than stale. During the year, I freeze remnants from different breads, such as whole grain, French, Italian, Como, whatever. Come T-day, I feed it all to the food processor along with some fresh to make up the bulk I need.
Rachael Ray takes hers, balls it up, and puts it into muffin tins, then bakes it. That might make it stick together better, and then it’s crunchier too. Saw this a couple of nights ago on FoodTV and I plan to try it.
Hmmm… I came here looking for advice on an extra or two to spice up my stuffing, now I’m thinking about trying a whole new recipe.
This can’t be disastrous, can it? I was the designated Stuffing Helper, then later Stuffing Maker, since I was about 6. I have tons of stuffing experience (snerk). If you folks say I can make it without eggs, it must be so! I mean, it’s bread, liquidy stuff, and seasoning. What can go wrong?
(Good call on the challah- that sounds great. For years I’ve been wanting to put crust in the stuffing, but my mom would notice. That’s why I always got the bread-breaker job when I was a kid, it was very tedious because you had to pull all the crust off. You know, my little delicate fingers always assured me the crappiest jobs, like cleaning the tires and wheels when we washed the car. :mad: )
Just to comment, most chefs nowadays suggest making it as “breading” rather than “stuffing” – not actually stuffing it inside the bird. Apparently, there’s a risk of salmonella if it comes in contact with the uncooked turkey.
(I took a cooking class a few weeks ago, and that’s the word from the cooking school.)
I’ve been roasting turkeys with stuffing in the bird for 40 years now, which comes out to about 80 birds or so, and have never had a problem. The internal temperature has to be right, but a thermometer and some sense fixes that issue. We’ve become a nation of frightened sheep when it comes to germs. If there is some worry, then take all the stuffing out of the bird after it’s done, put it in a casserole and shove it back in the oven at 400 for about 15 minutes. That will kill anything.
Yeah, it’s a temperature thing, not so much a touching the turkey thing.
My mom used to always complain/worry when us kids would lick the bowl and spoon when she’d make cake or brownies. When I got old enough to understand these things, I said, “Maybe I’m just exposing myself to salmonella a little bit at a time, and developing an immunity.”
So I my new stuffing recipe includes apples, nuts, and sausage, no eggs, and some broth instead. Here’s hoping it turns out well.