Dressing
Wikipedia states that “there are also regional differences as to the stuffing or dressing traditionally served with the turkey. Southerners generally make their dressing from cornbread, while those in other parts of the country make stuffing from white, wheat or rye bread as the base. One or several of the following may be added to the dressing/stuffing: oysters, apples, chestnuts, raisins, celery and/or other vegetables, sausage or the turkey’s giblets. The traditional Canadian version has bread cubes, sage, onion and celery. Rice is also sometimes used instead of bread in some parts of Canada.” Delish talks a little more about the regional differences in the way we fix our Holiday meals.
I have spent Thanksgiving Dinner with family most of my life, but when I wasn’t able to travel home, I spent it with friends. I was in my thirties before I had anything other than cornbread dressing. Surprisingly, it was one of my very Southern friends that fixed bread dressing instead of the more standard corn bread dressing. And I have to tell you I wasn’t impressed. It was like she took white bread and torn it apart and then put broth over it and warmed it up. To me it was gummy bread.
I checked out Allrecipes.com to see what other recipes are out there.
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftE47Q-3YWcThe first one I found is Oyster dressing and no offense to people who like Oyster dressing – but Blech! I know, don’t knock it until you try it, but seeing the slimy, muscle oysters being poured in the dish about did me in. I would have to be very hungry to eat this.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB7_fqOqTEUNext up is bread dressing with fruit and nuts. It looks okay, and I like all the ingredients especially the nuts and apricots. So I am reserving judgment on this one.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftE47Q-3YWcThey also had a recipe for cornbread dressing. However no one in our family uses all cornbread. We use a mixure of cornbread, crackers, biscuits or toasted bread. I tend to use crackers,and biscuits.
I have never eaten rice dressing and really couldn’t find a recipe that appeared to be dressing or stuffing. I found one that was wild rice cooked in broth. Then they added grapes, parsley, and nuts. Not sure why this is called rice dressing? Do any of you make a rice dressing?
So, do you eat dressing with your Thanksgiving meal? If so, what type of dressing do you cook?
– – Leigh AAR[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
We call it dressing in my family and it’s usually a mix of white, wheat, and rye bread cubes. Always has onions, and usually lots of different kinds of mushrooms. However sometimes we’ll only put a few mushrooms in and add dried fruit (dried cherries are especially nice).
It looks like any bread dressing and it is definitely more solid than rice.
We call it both in my family. I use the giblets, onions and celery to make stock. Then I use Pepperidge Farms Sage Bread Crumbs, sausage, (very little salt), pepper, celery, the above mentioned stock (supplemented with canned/box chicken stock as needed), onions, butter, poultry seasoning. The bird gets stuffed, and the rest goes into a casserole dish with a little stock poured on top( to keep it from drying out) and baked.
Th giblets are used to make gravy. My sister-in-law makes the gravy using the drippings from the turkey, a flour slurry and the chopped giblets…yummo!
Though I love Thanksgiving turkey and canned cranberry sauce (I know, totally artificial but still), I have never had stuffing. Just don’t like all those ingredients all mixed up together. :))))
I heard recently from one of the chefs on the Food Channel that it’s called stuffing when it’s used in that way; ie, stuffed in fowl, fish, pork chops, etc. It’s called dressing when it’s prepared as a side dish separate from the meat. Sounded logical to me.
I just prepare a simple stuffing for the bird with ground sausage, croutons, celery, onions and mushrooms and chicken broth. What doesn’t fit into the turkey, goes in a casserole dish to bake. Everyone seems to enjoy it.
Okay, now that I see that you have a cracker/bread type mixture in the recipe then this makes more sense. When I did a search the rice/grapes recipe came up and I thought why is this called dressing or stuffing. It is just fancy rice. So is the mixture more solid or formed than just rice?
We call it stuffing and the answer is yes. I like the taste of home wildrice stuffing a lot http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Wild-Rice-Stuffing
I don’t use gibbets but turkey meat very well diced and a bit of broth for flavor.