Bear Down Wildcats

Deserves its own thread, dammit. How do you like yours? This is serious stuff. You show up to a Thanksgiving with a mediocre stuffing, and you feel like something is missing over the next 364 days.

Chestnuts or (worse) rice instead of bread are abominations. In Illinois they do a Thanksgiving stuffing where the main ingredient is White Castle hamburgers. I've had it, and It's as bad as it sounds. EOTC mentioned an oyster stuffing.

Aside from these, I think the possible ingredients are:

cornbread
white bread
butter
sage
onion
celery
apples
sausage
some kind of nuts
raisins (I don't get that one at all)
stock

What do you hope for?

No fruit nuts or raisins belong in stuffing

I've never made stuffing from scratch.

I'm looking for an edible gluten-free stuffing.

All I know is that I eat the one that comes out of the birds ass. Not that other dry, sad looking stuff.

Chicat wrote:All I know is that I eat the one that comes out of the birds ass.

Before or after it was killed?

azgreg wrote:I've never made stuffing from scratch.

It's almost as hard as making a sandwich from scratch. Sandwiches are harder because you have to stack the layers in a kind of order.

azgreg wrote:

Chicat wrote:All I know is that I eat the one that comes out of the birds ass.

Before or after it was killed?

I don't get into all that technical stuff....

If you have qualms about stuffing a bird, what if you took all the chicken parts that you made the stock with, and you encased the stuffing in those inside of a Dutch oven or roasting pan? That would "lend" in a way that you can't get with a a casserole-cooked stuffing.

bread, broth, onion, celery, butter, lots of sage. that's about it.

Oh, sage. I forgot.

I understand that stuffing is easy, I've just never made it. I've got a wife for that.

last year my niece was working for Boston Market and she got the meal for about 10 of us. Came out to about $10 per person and it was really good. My wife was sitting on the couch beside me while we watched the football games. At one point she turned to me and said" So this is what thanksgiving is all about for you guys, just sit around and watch football while we cook the meal?" I said "Yep, how do you like it?" She thought for a minute and said "I like it." and got up and got us both a couple of beers.

Chicat wrote:All I know is that I eat the one that comes out of the birds ass. Not that other dry, sad looking stuff.

I have never made it. My dad, however, has his requested. I'll see if I can't get at least the ingredients from him.

scumdevils86 wrote:bread, broth, onion, celery, butter, lots of sage. that's about it.

Yup, I come from a very basic stuffing school of thought. I sautee a ton of onions, garlic and celery in a bunch of butter, salt and pepper. I do chop up a bunch of fresh rosemary, sage and thyme. Then I dump in a couple of bags of those cheap-ass bread crumbs and stir it all up. Done. Stuff the bird in both ends in the morning and roast. Always eat the stuffing from the bird. I've never liked any other variations.

For the stuffing, I take a whole chicken and make a big pot of stock, and I bake up a buttery buttermilk cornbread. On the stovetop I cook up equal parts chopped onion, celery, and apples in a buttery pan with sage, seasoning it all as I go. Then I brown a bunch of mild breakfast sausage, and then mix everything together with a little stock, and refrigerate it all overnight to think about itself and come together as one.

Today (Tuesday) is when I roast a pumpkin for the pumpkin pie.

My favorite day of the year has always been Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. That's when I prepare the stuffing, make the cranberry sauce, and make the pumpkin pie.

When my dad was alive he used to do the old traditional stuffing in the morning - boil the neck and the gizzards, mix it up with old bread, celery, seasonings, etc.,
stuff it in the bird and sew it up before cooking the turkey. (Just the thing they tell people not to do anymore for food safety reasons

I think I have his recipe laying around somewhere - if I find it I'll post it.

Longhorned wrote:For the stuffing, I take a whole chicken and make a big pot of stock, and I bake up a buttery buttermilk cornbread. On the stovetop I cook up equal parts chopped onion, celery, and apples in a buttery pan with sage, seasoning it all as I go. Then I brown a bunch of mild breakfast sausage, and then mix everything together with a little stock, and refrigerate it all overnight to think about itself and come together as one.

Today (Tuesday) is when I roast a pumpkin for the pumpkin pie.

My favorite day of the year has always been Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. That's when I prepare the stuffing, make the cranberry sauce, and make the pumpkin pie.

I use a similar recipe for stuffing, but I add fennel to the onion/celery/apple mix

There's a reason stuffing isn't eaten year-round. Just make something you like better.

gumby wrote:There's a reason stuffing isn't eaten year-round. Just make something you like better.

But people do like stuffing. And pumpkin pie. It's the turkey and everything else that everyone is just polite about. I bet most people would embrace the idea of just stuffing for dinner and pumpkin pie on a Wednesday in late February.

Still, you're right. Something like prime rib, mashed potatoes, and creamed corn would make critics rave on Thanksgiving. Have people over and serve them that and nobody would miss the traditional meal.

gumby wrote:There's a reason stuffing isn't eaten year-round. Just make something you like better.

We eat stuffing year-round. Or at least early spring, late fall, and all winter. Serve it with pork roast, chicken, Cornish game hens, and other fowl.

Any good ideas for a easy to make vegitarian stuffing that won't suck? I need some help today this am.

So my dad uses aged artisan bread, torn into pieces, croutons, apples, onions, celery, craisins (cranberry raisins), with broth. Simple, but flavorful.

Chicat wrote:

gumby wrote:There's a reason stuffing isn't eaten year-round. Just make something you like better.

We eat stuffing year-round. Or at least early spring, late fall, and all winter. Serve it with pork roast, chicken, Cornish game hens, and other fowl.

Growing up I would always forgo turkey and have a plate of almost entirely stuffing. As long as it wasn't too loaded up with celery. I could eat that shit for days.

Chicat wrote:

gumby wrote:There's a reason stuffing isn't eaten year-round. Just make something you like better.

We eat stuffing year-round. Or at least early spring, late fall, and all winter. Serve it with pork roast, chicken, Cornish game hens, and other fowl.

As long as you like it. Just seems to be a meal that's rarely duplicated the rest of the year. I like pumpkin pie, but it's not in my top 10. When it's just us, it's game hens or ham. Blasphemers!