My family needs a stuffing intervention

[oliviasmomma]

Our family stuffing is awful, just terrible. I love the sticky, mushy, non-meaty kind--will anyone share their recipe? I know it is late, but I'm planning on making a turkey dinner for DH's graduation in a couple of weeks.

PS Our family stuffing is the loose, meaty kind--no offense meant to those who like that sort of thing :) Most of my family doesn't like it and no one has the heart to tell my aunt who makes it every year since it is her family's old recipe.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have no formal recipe. I just eyeball everything which is probably useless on this forum. :) My ingredients are stale bread cubed, sauteed celery in small pieces, sauteed onion in small pieces, melted butter, chicken stock, poultry seasoning and maybe some salt and pepper.

There is a prepackaged mix that they sell at Whole Foods (Chatham Village, I think) and it is like Stovetop in terms of cooking methodology but without the gazillion funky extra ingredients. All I do with that mix is add sauteed celery and onion to it and I am good to go.

If I can find any proportions 'll pass them on. I'm with you though- this is my kind of stuffing. I would be so, so sad if I went to Thanksgiving dinner and they didn't have this kind of stuffing. For T-day I hate the fancy stuff- I like straight traditional. :)

Beth

[Jenn98]

I have not done it myself, but my dad has been making the stuffing in the crock pot lately and it was soooooo good this year! I asked him what he did and he said he used Stove Top but instead of the water it calls for he used chicken stock and then he added some additional seasonigs (I think he said it was Old World by Penzey's but I'm sure regular poultry seasoning would do just fine). It was the sticky, mushy kind and sooo yummy!

[bostonsmama]

OH my goodness, we had the best stuffing this year. It was a recipe from Tyler Florence's "Ultimate Thanksgiving" special. It's a cornbread stuffing, but is truly divine (and we were ultra-nervous b/c none of us really even like dry, crusty cornbread or the Stovetop version of cornbread stuffing), but it was GONE after we brought it to the table! Make double.

Here's the recipe:

2 tablespoons butter
2 med onions, chopped
6 large cornmeal muffins, cubed (I made them w/ Jiffy mix)
Handful fresh sage leaves, chopped (about 1/8 cup chopped)
1 egg
1/4 cup heavy cream (I used fat free half n half)
1/4 cup chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper (be liberal)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes, or until soft and caramelized. Add sage and scrape into a large mixing bowl. Add the cornbread pieces, season well with salt and pepper, and give it a good toss until it's well combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, cream, and stock, and pour that over the cornbread. Stir the stuffing together and stuff the cavity of the turkey. You could also spoon it into a buttered baking dish and put it in the oven along with the turkey. Bake until hot and crusty on top, about 30 minutes.

My notes: I whipped up a quick batch of muffins from a box of Jiffy (cheap and quick), let them cool 10 min, then broke them into pieces (slightly crumbly, but not cut w/ a knife). The Jiffy mix gives the recipe a slight sweetness with melds well with the sage. You must use fresh sage...it makes all the difference. If I had my way I'd use 8 large corn muffins instead of 6, although you'll need more than one box of Jiffy and should probably add 1/3 more liquid than is required. Don't use dried store-bought cornbread cubes! It'll be gross. Note that half n half is great way to cut calories. Also, if you're not stuffing it in the bird, put aside some extra turkey or chicken stock and baste it while it bakes uncovered so it gets crunchy on top and soft on the inside! We did our turky in a bag this year so it got tender, juicy and fell right off the bone, but still had a gorgeous browned skin. We actually made the entire Tyler's Ultimate thanksgiving meal (sweet potatoes w/ pecans & bananas, sage buttered turkey, the stuffing, cranberries, etc). You can get them all at http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_tu/episode/0,1976,FOOD_10228_46795,00.html

L

[linsei]

Everyone raves about our family dressing (we cook it separately from the turkey). I don't have a precise recipe, but it is really dense, heavy and sticks together. I assume that is what you are trying to achieve?

We use lots of different types of bread, such as Italian, whole wheat, and multi-grain. Tear up the bread into small pieces and toast in the oven until it is completely dried out. This can be done a day or two in advance. I also shred 1 lb. carrots, 1 sweet onion, 1 package celery, and a few cloves of garlic in the food processor and brown 1 lb (or 2, depending on how much I'm making) of sausage (spicy or sage) the day before. Cook and simmer the giblits in chicken stock and the drippings from the turkey (I think the giblits are gross, but doing this makes the broth rich and we don't use them - just give them to the dog!). Also add whatever spices you want (parsley, rosemary, thyme, etc.) After it simmers for a while, add the veggies to the broth and cook until softened. Remove giblits and use the rest of the broth mixture to moisten the bread crumbs. The key to making it stick together is probably just to add lots of broth until the pieces are very moist and stir until your arm is ready to fall off ;) Then just bake it at 350, stir occassionally (this is to dry out some of the moisture) and remove when it is dry enough for your liking. We like it slightly moist inside with a crisp layer on top.

Good luck with your dinner!

Linda

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[juliasmom05]

I use a very similar recipe and for me Thanksgiving would not be the same without it.

I use a package of stuffing mix in the bag (which I think is just dried bread crumbs) to which I add 1 diced onion, diced celery (about half a bunch, I think) that has been sauteed until soft not brown in 1 cube of butter. To this mixure, I add sage (can't remember how much right now, couple of teaspoons?) and chicken stock so that it is nice and moist. That's it. Nothing fancy.

Marci