What's for Dinner?10/27/04Thanksgiving Stuffing(serves a lot)Because we smoke our Thanksgiving turkey, we bake this stuffing separately in the oven. However, you can just as easily use some inside your bird, if you're going to roast it. My wife, Julia, and I developed this recipe by including various ingredients that we liked in other stuffings. You should feel free to do the same but do begin by making the cornbread at least a day in advance because it needs to dry out. The Cornbread
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Whisk together the wet ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine. Do not overmix. 3.Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake until done, about 15 minutes. Leave out to dry thoroughly overnight. The Stuffing
1. Add the wild rice and salt to 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer, covered, until the rice kernels begin to pop, about 45 minutes. Drain, if necessary, and cool on a baking sheet. 2. In a skillet over medium heat, saute the onions in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil until they soften and just begin to brown, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and celery, and saute for another 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the sage along with salt and pepper to taste. Allow the mixture to cool in a shallow dish. 3. In the same skillet over the same flame, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil with the butter. When the butter stops foaming, add the apples, sprinkling them with the sugar. Saute until the apples begin to brown, about 7 minutes. Add 1 cup of the apple cider to deglaze the skillet. Reduce for 1 minute. 4. Pour the apple mixture over the onion mixture. Once it has cooled completely, mix in the rice and cornbread. (The stuffing can be refrigerated at this point while you prepare other menu items.) 5. Beat the eggs with the remaining cup of apple cider. Fold into the stuffing. Then fold in the pecans, cranberries, and parsley, mixing well. 6. This stuffing can be baked either inside your turkey or in a separate dish at whatever temperature your oven happens to be. At 350 degrees Fahrenheit, it will take about 45 minutes to cook completely. Tips
Listener Feedback According to John Dunham, he and his family have spend years thinking about Thanksgiving stuffings—oyster stuffings, sausage stuffings, cornbread stuffings. “Somehow,” John writes, “all of these seem too overpowering and take away from the simplicity of the other dishes we serve. And how many kids like oysters?” That’s why John’s family always comes back to a stuffing that his grandmother made before her death in 1957—and his mother and aunts after her. Here’s the recipe: For a large turkey, melt four sticks of butter (or margarine in a large skillet. Then saute the following until the onion becomes transparent: four cups coarsely chopped celery, one cup chopped parsley, three-quarters of a cup chopped onion, three tablespoons Bell’s poultry seasoning, one tablespoon salt, and some grindings of pepper. Meanwhile, cube three loaves of white bread.. (If the bread is already sliced, freezing the bread first and stacking the slices makes this easier.) Finally, toss the saute with the bread cubes and stuff the turkey. Whatever doesn’t fit can be cooked in a separate baking dish. (John typically mixes the in-bird stuffing with the baking-dish stuffing before serving.)
If you have tried one of these recipes and have an improvement or tip or variation to suggest, please e-mail David at dinner@wamc.org. Also feel free to send along your own family cuisine recipes. You can even request dishes that you'd like David to present in the future. David Rubel is president of Agincourt Press, a book production company in Chatham, New York. He spends his days writing American history, then heads home after work to cook for his wife and two young children. His most recent book is The Story of America (DK, 2002). |
