November 18, 2014 - Radio Kitchen - Thanksgiving Stuffings
With Thanksgiving a week and a half away, it's time to start thinking about some of the elements of the meal. This is one of the few times during the year that we will most likely serve our principal protein, usually turkey, with stuffing. A lot of people have traditional recipes they follow year after year, but some folks are adventurous.
The purpose of the stuffing, in our opinion, is to absorb the juices from the meat it is cooked in, and to offer a seasoned starchy foil to the meat itself. In recent years there have been concerns about bacteria surviving the hours spent in the oven, leading to the practice of cooking your stuffing in its own pot as a side-dish. If you want to stuff your bird, simply be sure to use room temperature stuffing (cold stuffing that has be refrigerated will never cook through) and make sure it gets up to 140 degrees. Use a common meat thermometer to be sure.
All stuffing recipes have this in common: there is some sort of tasty absorbent starch holding it all together. You'll see breads of all kinds, saltine crackers, croutons, cornbread, rice of all kinds, riced potatoes, dumplings... anything that will soak up some good juice.
From there on, the sky's the limit. All sorts of spices, herbs, vegetables, fruits, and other meats can work their way into a recipe. The trick is harmonious flavors. And in this case, simpler is usually better. Balance is very important, with sweets working with savories, bland working with seasoning, and avoiding one overpowering flavor. Trust your instincts when it comes to mixing and matching.
This is the one time a year when the overlooked and under appreciated herb sage comes into play. It seems to be custom made for stuffings, endowing them with a earthy autumnal flavor that is so appropriate to the season.
Some ingredients you might want to play with include: boiled chestnuts, pecans, hazel nuts; bacon and sausages of all kinds including loose sausage meat, and spicy chorizo; root vegetables like turnips and parsnips; fresh and dried fruit, particularly dried apricots, raisins, cranberries and fresh apple slices; unexpected ingredients like oysters, mushrooms and sauerkraut; and of course, onions of every description. It's mix and match time. Just remember that whatever you make, you are going to need some kind of savory broth to moisten it.
Here are a few recipe titles I picked up on the Internet. In many cases, the name of the dish says it all: wild rice and cranberry stuffing; Pennsylvania Dutch sauerkraut and apple stuffing; chorizo, chestnut and French bread dressing; cornbread, bacon and apple stuffing; butternut squash and bacon dressing. For a great collection of recipes go to this Good Housekeeping website for 25 stuffing ideas: www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/thanksgiving-ideas/turkey-stuffing-recipes
Turkey isn't the only thing we can stuff. Some people like a big hunk of roast pork, which can be stuffed easily. One very good technique is to butterfly a pork tenderloin, making a long rectangular, relatively thin piece of meat. You prepare your stuffing, and cover what will be the inside surface of the pork. Roll it up, tie it up with butcher's string, and roast it. Dried fruits are particularly compatible with pork, so try recipes with dried apricots, prunes or apples. But use a long slow cooking technique to make sure the stuffing is cooked and the meat doesn't scorch.
A lot of the ingredients you might want to consider for your stuffing are grown locally and are abundant this time of the year.
Here is Jerry's all-time favorite Thanksgiving stuffing:
Maryland Oyster Stuffing
Jerry Pellegrino, Waterfront Kitchen
Makes 10 cups of stuffing
Ingredients:
10 cups of a soft, sweet bread such as brioche or challah, cut into ½ inch cubes
½ lb of apple wood smoked bacon, cut into ¼ inch cubes
2 Tablespoons butter, for sautéing
2 cups chopped white onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped leek, white part only
5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage
½ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
24 oysters, shucked, drained
6 oz butter, melted
2 cups chicken stock
Preparation
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Spread bread cubes into cookie sheets and bake the bread until golden, about 15 to 20 minutes, Cool bread and transfer to a large bowl.
In a large sauté pan set over medium low heat, slowly cook the bacon until it has rendered it fat and become crispy.
Turn the heat up to medium high and add the butter. Once the butter is melted and foaming add the onions, celery, leeks, sage, and garlic. With occasional stirring, cook the vegetables until they are translucent and soft.
Transfer to the bowl with bread cubes,
Stir in the parsley, melted butter, oysters and stock. Mix until just combined. If the stuffing looks to dry, add additional chicken stock until it looks moist and sticky.
Transfer stuffing to a buttered 3 quart casserole dish. Bake, covered, in middle of oven 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until browned, about 30 minutes more.
