Thanksgiving Stuffing (and as of 2017 Homemade Desserts)

[TuneTownMagic]

I am making a popular recipe from Allrecipes.com, the apple and cranberry stuffing; I plan on substituting currants for the cranberries and omitting the meat.

I haven't gone through the whole thread, but I wanted to ask if anyone experienced in making stuffing has advice on making it a day ahead of time? I need to bring it to a friends' in-laws' home in the early afternoon so I will only have time to make it the night before, and I plan on baking it in the oven in a casserole dish. Can the stuffing be reheated in the oven without getting overcooked or having the texture messed up? I've never made stuffing before so that's why I'm asking!

 

[Kellykins1218]

stove top all the way.

I guess I never thought about making my own since it is all I have ever had. BUT I love stuffing.

Same here. I've tried all of the relative's homemade stuffing & find them to be mostly disgusting. Sausage & cranberries should NOT be inside a turkey. Blech!

 

[Paradise18]

My Mom's stuffing is my favourite. She uses onion, cubed bread crumbs, summer savory (used like sage is used), mashed potatoes, butter, salt and pepper. It's cooked inside the turkey.

 

[denisem]

I am making a popular recipe from Allrecipes.com, the apple and cranberry stuffing; I plan on substituting currants for the cranberries and omitting the meat.

I haven't gone through the whole thread, but I wanted to ask if anyone experienced in making stuffing has advice on making it a day ahead of time? I need to bring it to a friends' in-laws' home in the early afternoon so I will only have time to make it the night before, and I plan on baking it in the oven in a casserole dish. Can the stuffing be reheated in the oven without getting overcooked or having the texture messed up? I've never made stuffing before so that's why I'm asking!

Do you have a slow cooker? I always use the Allrecipes recipe for "Slow Cooker Stuffing". It's a simple bread stuffing, but maybe you could adapt to your recipe. Or, you could perhaps prep everything the night before, bake it before you leave and keep it warm in the slow cooker.

Maybe it's me, but I wouldn't rely on having an oven ready for your reheating; perhaps the hosts have other plans for their oven at the last minute. (Turkey, sides, oven roasted vegetables, rolls, etc.)

 

[Jedana]

My dressing (not stuffing, as it's not going in the bird)

Jiffy Cornbread, adding sage and thyme to the batter

Cooked Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage, onion, celery
Mix crumbled corn bread with sausage mix, chicken stock , more sage and thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Bake until crispy on the top.

 

[TuneTownMagic]

Do you have a slow cooker? I always use the Allrecipes recipe for "Slow Cooker Stuffing". It's a simple bread stuffing, but maybe you could adapt to your recipe. Or, you could perhaps prep everything the night before, bake it before you leave and keep it warm in the slow cooker.

Maybe it's me, but I wouldn't rely on having an oven ready for your reheating; perhaps the hosts have other plans for their oven at the last minute. (Turkey, sides, oven roasted vegetables, rolls, etc.)

I do not own a slow cooker, but thank you for the suggestion. And that's a good point about an oven not being available. Maybe I will make something else savory instead. Thank you again.

 

[lizzi6692]

I make my own stuffing because I'm very picky and I don't like crunchy things(onions, celery, etc) in it. It's pretty simple just bread(that I will probably make myself this year), chicken broth, poultry seasoning, eggs, and butter. I always bake it separate from the turkey.

 

[BDL]

I may be wrong about this, but I don't think so. I have searched the website, the preview guide on my cable box and TVGuide.com, and it doesn't look like the live Thanksgiving special will be taking place this year. It looks like it is being replaced by a pre-recorded special Thanksgiving at Bobby Flay's House.

I am so discouraged. I look forward to this special every year. It reminds me of when CBS stopped broadcasting The Year Without Santa, with the Heat Miser and Cold Miser (thank God ABC Family broadcasts all of those Ranking & Bass specials).

Granted, last year's special kind of dragged due to the limited number of chefs and Barefoot Contessa... bringing... the pace... waaaaaaaaaaaaay... down.

I can only hope that Food Network realizes their mistake, if not this year, then bring it back next year. If they did, my dream team line-up would be:

Bobby Flay
The cast of The Kitchen minus Katie Lee. Zakarian, Mauro, Marcella & Sunny (Mauro will be especially good with what to do with leftovers)
Nadia G
Michael Symon
Giada
And either Ann Burrell or Alex Guarnaschelli (I think if they are on the same stage, they'd kill each other)
With Alton moderating/interviewing viewers.

Also, it would be a pipe dream, but I would love to see the Neely's back.

In the meantime, keep posting your stuffing ideas. I keep bumping into people that love oyster stuffing, though I never heard of it until I started this thread.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

We have dressing. It has never and will never go in the bird.
!

Well I should hope you don't put your Hidden Valley Ranch or Good Seasons Italian inside the bird!!!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Does everyone put onions in their stuffing (or dressing)?

Eating is so hard for thos of us who HATE onions!

They literally make me gag!

I used to. I love onions. But for some reason once I got older, they no longer love me. So now instead of dicing them up and leaving them, I put em in sliced cook em down and remove them. Still get some of that onion flavor without the blowback from my digestive system.

 

[BDL]

BUMP!!!

Since Halloween is over and it's Turkey Day season, I figured I'd give this a bump. Love the recipes, experiences and opinions. Keep 'em coming.

 

[HM]

My mother made great stuffing. I've spent the last 27 years with my inlaws....who don't do stuffing. They do a cornbread dressing. I miss it.

EDIT-- Didn't realize this was a BUMP from last year. I hope I didn't answer last year, and then this year too.

 

[RedAngie]

I still call it stuffing, never dressing, even though I bake it separately, not in the bird.

Martin's potato bread cubes, sauteed celery and onion, Bell's seasoning, an apple, chicken or turkey broth from a can. Sometimes raisins.

I make it about every other month year round, not just during the holiday season.

 

[pryncess527]

This is one of the amazing things I got when I married my husband -- his grandmother's dressing recipe! The first time he took me to her house for Thanksgiving, it blew me away. I was never a big fan as a kid, but her's is amazing. She swears the secret is Beau Monde seasoning. It's pretty simple -- sausage, cubed cornbread, butter, dried onion & celery, chicken stock -- I think that's all.

We don't see her on Thanksgiving anymore, but I make a decent version myself. And when we see her for Christmas, she almost always has a FULL PAN set aside for me to take home, made just for me even though she never serves turkey at Christmas and dressing isn't on the regular menu I adore that woman . . .

 

[minkydog]

This is the most sought after food on the table at my family's Thanksgiving. Even more than the turkey. My mom makes a stuffing out of potatoes, sausage, bacon, onions and Bell seasoning. It is great. Especially if you can get some of the crust that sticks out of the bird.

As a kid, I would only eat Stove Top. Then that option was taken away from me, so I refused to eat mom's stuffing out of spite. Then one year, I caved. And ever since then, when the table is being set, I ALWAYS make sure the bowl with the stuffing is closest to my seat.

Do you have a special kind of stuffing or side dish for Turkey Day?

My kids demand my crockpot stuffing. In fact, for the last 2 years I have made TWO crockpots of stuffing and TWO batches of cranberry sauce to go with it. My secret is the homemade bread cubes. I use both French bread and Italian seed bread (from Publix). Cut them into cubes about a week prior to Thanksgiving and put them into a 250 degree oven for about 30 min, to dry them out some. After that, they come out, cool off, and go into a bowl on top of the fridge to fully dry out--I turn them 3-4 times a day. On Thanksgiving day I put the bread cubes together with sautéed onions & celery, 1 cup of cornmeal, a can of cream of celery soup, poultry seasoning (thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary), a stick of melted butter, and water enough to moisten everything. Put it in the crockpot on high for about 3 hours--soooo, so good!

ETA--this recipe has no meat in it. My DD22 is vegetarian, so everything on my table is meat-free, except the turkey and turkey gravy.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I love stuffing. Stove Top, Pepperidge Farm, home made....mmmm My husband's grandmother used to make a meat stuffing (ground beef, potatoes, onion, poultry seasoning, S&P) Sooo good.

Here's my question though. I have read a few posts on this thread and I know some people call it stuffing and some call it dressing. I'm a "stuffing". I haven't read the entire thread so please excuse this if it's already been answered.

I know people consider it a "dressing" if it's cooked separately and served as a side dish. And I know people consider it a "stuffing" if it's stuffed and cooked in the bird, right? But I'm assuming it's the same recipe??? I know people are passionate about whether it's a stuffing or a dressing but is there a difference between the recipes? I mean can you use a dressing in the bird?

This is interesting. I've always used the words stuffing and dressing interchangeably, regardless of whether or not it's cooked inside the bird. My mom and grandmother always used to stuff the turkey but then at some point there was a lot of publicity about that being unsafe/unhealthy and we stopped going it. In my extended family, we take turns hosting Thanksgiving and the guests usually bring a covered dish, so there are some different dressing recipes each year but they have all always been delicious (lots of good cooks in the family!).

 

[BDL]

Well, I hate to be the barer of bad news, but I was just at the Food Network site, and once again the Food Network is robbing me and others of our favorite Thanksgiving tradition. It looks like, for the 2nd year in a row, they are NOT airing a live Thanksgiving special. Looks like they'll be going the pre-recorded route again.

For those unfamiliar with this special, every yr, the Food Network would air a live 3 hr Thanksgiving special featuring several Food Network personalities. It would usually air 1 or 2 Saturdays before Turkey day and cover everything. From prep, to appetizers, to sides, to the Turkey & alternatives to turkey, to dessert, to cocktails and even what to do with left overs (like Big Daddy's stuffing balls). And there would be jokes, banter and insights.

I used to always SO look forward to this. Sure there are the helpful hints and the Q&A segments. But the best parts of the special were always as the show progressed, the "spirits" would kick in. After the 1st 1/2 hr, this show went from good to awesome. And then when they'd start picking on each other and you'd see the occasional wondering eye, it would EPIC.

Personally, I blame the Barefoot Contessa for this. She was on the last live episode and she grinded that show to a halt every time she spoke or was on camera. I don't think she appeared at all, in the last 1/2 hr of that ep. And now it's gone. I am so depressed.

-----
Now that I have that out of the way, I do have a question. For those of you that never had oyster stuffing growing up, how did you like it the 1st time having it as an adult? I'm thinking a might make a small side of it and giving it a shot.

 

[traviesojmt]

Well I should hope you don't put your Hidden Valley Ranch or Good Seasons Italian inside the bird!!!

I have a funny story regarding the dressing/stuffing debate. I am a southern girl who grew up on turkey and dressing. We never called it stuffing. We had just moved to Massachusetts and my DH's work was having a Thanksgiving dinner. The lady in charge of sign up came to my husband to see what he would bring. My DH told her that he would bring dressing (I'd already told him I'd make dressing) and she gave him a bit of an annoyed look. She told him not to bother that she just buys that. My husband was confused and told her that his wife make really good dressing and it was no problem. She then said that they just buy all of the condiment stuff. That is when it finally hit him. Lol. She thought he was a scrub bringing a bottle of salad dressing to a big dinner. He did set the record straight and I sent my "dressing".

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I have a funny story regarding the dressing/stuffing debate. I am a southern girl who grew up on turkey and dressing. We never called it stuffing. We had just moved to Massachusetts and my DH's work was having a Thanksgiving dinner. The lady in charge of sign up came to my husband to see what he would bring. My DH told her that he would bring dressing (I'd already told him I'd make dressing) and she gave him a bit of an annoyed look. She told him not to bother that she just buys that. My husband was confused and told her that his wife make really good dressing and it was no problem. She then said that they just buy all of the condiment stuff. That is when it finally hit him. Lol. She thought he was a scrub bringing a bottle of salad dressing to a big dinner. He did set the record straight and I sent my "dressing".

HAHA!! Just wait until you talk about putting All in car vs Oil in the Cah.