15 Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipes That Will Make You Forget About Turkey (2024)

FAQs

What is stuffing called when it's not in a turkey? ›

Stuffing and dressing are commonly used as different names for the same thing—a dish consisting of bits of bread (or other starchy things) and various seasonings. The dish can be made by stuffing it (hence the name) inside a turkey or other bird that will be roasted, or by baking or cooking it separately.

People have been stuffing poultry since ancient times -- the Romans and Arabs are both thought to have stuffed birds with mixtures of bread, herbs and spices. Today's stuffings are frequently prepared on the side instead of in the bird to reduce roasting time and avoid uneven cooking.

Most people stuff the turkey with dressing so that it can absorb the flavorful juices of the turkey as it cooks, and while we agree that the turkey can lend a lot of flavor to the dressing, it can also make it mushy. The dressing essentially steams inside the bird and can become oversaturated in juices.

But only one dish reigns supreme. All hail the almighty stuffing. Something magical happens when stale bread meets butter, celery and tons of sage. Flavors meld and the bread turns soft and gooey and outshines everything else on the Thanksgiving plate.

But for the Thanksgiving side dish in the South, the term dressing was adopted in place of stuffing, which was viewed as a crude term, during the Victorian era. Although dressing and stuffing are interchangeable terms, the signature ingredient of this Thanksgiving side dish in the South is cornbread.

Purportedly ancient Roman, or else Medieval, cooks developed engastration recipes, stuffing animals with other animals. An anonymous Andalusian cookbook from the 13th century includes a recipe for a ram stuffed with small birds.

So how far back can we find stuffing used in cooking? Some time between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD, a chef by the name of Apicius created a cookbook entitled, “Apicius de re Coquinaria.” In its pages are recipes for stuffed chicken, rabbit, pig, and even dormouse.

Fully cook raw meat, poultry, or seafood ingredients before adding to stuffing. Combine the ingredients and place them in your bird immediately before cooking. Don't stuff whole poultry with cooked stuffing. In addition to the turkey, the stuffing's center needs to reach 165 F.

Give stuffing a head start by heating it up before placing inside the turkey. Like the turkey, stuffing needs to reach the 165 degree mark. If the bird is done before the stuffing, remove stuffing from the cavities and continue to cook in a baking dish.

Inside of the turkey you can put sliced lemons, herbs like rosemary, thyme and sage, whole garlic cloves, shallots and celery, which will perfume the meat and flavor the drippings.

Who invented turkey stuffing? ›

The Origins of Stuffing

Well, experts aren't exactly sure, but the first official mention of it can be found in a Roman cookbook called “Apicius de re Coquinaria,” which dates back to the first century AD.

Breads such as sour dough, French bread or Italian loaves are for the best bread for stuffing. Their soft-but-sturdy interiors are the perfect texture for stuffing. The pieces retain their shape without crumbling.

It's a matter of preference, but adding a beaten egg to your stuffing mixture acts as a binder and keeps the bread moist.

Traditional Christmas dinner features turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and vegetables. Other types of poultry, roast beef, or ham, are also used.

Should I stuff my turkey? Stuffing cooked inside the turkey cavities is delicious, but it does slow down the cooking time and could be a potential health hazard if done incorrectly. For perfect no-worry results, opt for "dressing" instead – stuffing cooked alongside the bird instead of inside.

The word “stuffing” dates back to 14th Century English, when it was used synonymously with the more uncomfortable sounding forcemeat. Soon after, Anglos borrowed the slicker French word, farce (from the Latin verb facire or “to stuff”).

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'. This is from Wiki. Basically, everyone except a tiny percentage of Black people with family in Alabama calls it stuffing.

Names for stuffing include "farce" (~1390), "stuffing" (1538), "forcemeat" (1688), and relatively more recently in the United States; "dressing" (1850).