Thanksgiving Tip of the Day: Perfect Stuffing

[teaberryblue]

So, while you’re waiting patiently for your turkey to brine, or sitting twiddling your thumbs, or whatever else you do tonight, consider your stuffing!

You know how stuffing is always better reheated? If you want the best stuffing, take a cue from that old truism and make your stuffing tonight!

This is a traditional bread stuffing. You can also make stuffing with rice or other grains!

Stuffing can be made meat-free and even vegan. I’m posting a meat recipe, but I’ll make notes for what to do if you want to go vegan or vegetarian with your stuffing.

Here’s what you will need:
1 loaf of bread or equivalent– I like to mix up different types of bread. Cornbead, rye bread, pumpernickel, sourdough, and multigrain breads make the best stuffing. Don’t use plain white bread. Use bread that is a few days old!
1/2 lb of bacon (if you wish)
1/2 stick of butter, margarine, bacon fat, or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the casserole.
1 onion, sliced thin
1 rub of celery, chopped finely
Any vegetables you may like– I use turnips and kale here, but other veggies are yummy too. Some people also like raisins or currants. Leafy veggies should be cut into 1″ strips, chunky veggies should be cut into 1/2″ cubes.
1 egg (additional oil if you are making vegan)
2-3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
Salt, pepper, and spices if you want them. I put in a little sage and thyme.

To start, turn your oven to around 350.
Now cut your bread into 1 inch squares.
Butter, oil, or spray a cookie sheet and lay the bread out evenly like this:

Put them in the oven for 5 minutes, then turn the tray around and put them in again for 5 more minutes. The bread should be slightly toasty, like this:

It will be a little crispy to the touch and just golden-brown at the edges. You can turn the oven off now. You will do the real baking tomorrow!

Now, take a skillet and melt some butter or bacon fat, or use some vegetable oil. Heat at a moderately high temperature. Put in the onion and the celery, and keep the heat moderate.

Stir the onions and celery occasionally, until they are soft and slightly translucent. Now add your herbs and spices to the pan and stir for a couple minutes.

The onions and celery should look like this:

Now dump the bread and the onions and celery into a bowl.

Using the same pan, add some bacon. I used slab bacon because you can cut it into cubes! If you have a local farm, find out if they have slab bacon. If you’re vegetarian, forget the bacon and go onto the next step. (Tip: you can fry the bacon in advance and then use the bacon fat to cook the onions if you like that kind of thing)

Now, again in the same pan, cook your veggies up, one at a time. If you are making vegetarian stuffing, you may need to add more butter or oil at this point. Let me know if you need any veggie-sauteeing tips.

Put EVERYTHING in a big bowl like this:

Now you’ll want to get your egg and crack it in a little bowl, and then pour in your chicken broth. If you’re making vegan stuffing, you can use a little vegetable oil here, and obviously veggie broth is fine.

Whisk it up until you can’t see any bits of egg.

Now pour it all over your stuffing and mix it in with your hands really well!

Get a heat-resistant 9×13″ casserole and grease it– I like to use bacon grease for this, but you can use anything you like. How do you use bacon grease? Just drain it out of the pan into a tupperware or bowl, and then chill it in the fridge. It will get hard like butter! Then you can scoop it out with a spoon or your fingers.

Now pour in your stuffing! It should fit pretty much exactly if you used the same quantities I did.

Isn’t that pretty?!

You’re all done till tomorrow! You can bake it by itself or stuff your turkey with it! Cover it with foil or plastic and put it in the fridge! Good job!

Mirrored from Antagonia.net.

Comments

[karnythia.livejournal.com]

Stuffing should involve corn bread.

[zia-narratora.livejournal.com]

I like to mix it up! Last year I did corn bread so this year I am doing rye and pumpernickel! One year I made a cornbread and oyster stuffing that was the most decadent thing EVER.

[gairid.livejournal.com]

What a lovely step-by-step--and the recipe sounds really good! Our stuffing is currently in the oven so it will be ready for tomorrow; we made Emeril's oyster stuffing.:)

[oxymoronassoc.livejournal.com]

STUFFING. MY FAVOURITE PART. Tea, I am really enjoying these posts even though for the first year in like four years I GET TO SLACK OFF AND JUST PLAY KITCHEN HELPER because I am going to my aunt's in York instead of my godmother's. My mother is the Pie Maker and generally, when I am home for Thanksgiving (98% of the time), she makes me make pies for her. INCLUDING A FREE FORM GALETTE FROM SCRATCH which is hard especially when YOUR KITCHEN IS THE WRONG TEMPERATURE AND THE DOUGH WON'T BIND. I should have picked an easier signature dish.

[kittehkat.livejournal.com]

We only eat meat-based stuffing in this house, mixed with stale bread stuffing. It's the one time of year I enjoy sausage. It's sagey and herby and mmm. I've been conditioned. Nothing else will suffice.

Non-meaty 'stuffing' is always dressing to me. Delicious, delicious dressing. If I could, all my Thanksgiving meal would consist of just various grains and bread-based dressings. Screw veggies! NEEDS MOAR CARBS AND FIBRE.