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Stuffing vs. Dressing
When I was growing up, one of the big staples of every Christmas and Thanksgiving feast involving turkey was a couple of giant pans filled with slightly-mushy baked cornbread dressing full of chicken or duck. I hated the stuff when I was younger, but it has grown on me considerably in recent years. I had known there was such a thing as stuffing, but that was always referred to as “what Northerners call dressing.”
In some cases, I suppose that would be true. Most of the “stuffing” recipes I find have you make the stuffing much like dressing, but use that to stuff the turkey, while dressing is only meant to be a side dish that you eat alongside the bird. For my in-laws, stuffing isn’t used for stuffing so much, but it is a stove-top concoction of chunks of bread with sage and eggs. It’s still very tasty, but very different from the dressing made by my family. On the other hand, I can find plenty of “dressing” recipes that look much like what my in-laws consider stuffing.
The term “dressing” first originated in the 1850s, when the Victorians decided to switch from the term “stuffing” as it was considered more crass. Southerners kept the term while the Northerners couldn’t be swayed.
Ultimately, the difference between stuffing and dressing depends upon the region you live in as stuffing and dressing can both be referred to as what you stuff the bird with and the casserole dish served alongside the bird.
This year, I introduced my in-laws to my family’s version of dressing, to go along with our introduction of deep-fried turkey. It was my first time making the dressing, so it was not perfect, but it was still pretty delicious!
They’re all Yankees.
On stuffing/dressing/ingredients, etc., I would say that where you stand is where you sit.
I grew up in South Carolina, and I always considered the terms “stuffing” and “dressing” to be synonymous (at least in the context of turkey). In our family we called it “stuffing,” regardless of whether it was cooked inside the bird, but I also heard the “dressing” and understood it to be the same thing.
But after I met my wife, I was introduced to what her family (from rural North Carolina) called “stuffing.” It was basically what you describe, a baked slab of cornbread with chicken mixed in. It was great, but I never quite saw the logic of calling it a side dish!
Haven’t had it in years. I’m going to have to see if we have my mother-in-law’s recipe somewhere.
There’s never enough stuffing to go with all the leftover turkey. That’s why dressing was invented.
Those pics look GOOD!
Yes – its true – even in populated towns, they chase people down the street – mainly Democrats.
This is how I make it, @frontseatcat. But I make a lot. I put as much as I can into the turkey and the rest in a covered baking pan. Afterwards, I mix the two together before serving.
Not:
Honestly, the word Yankee has no content for me past the baseball team. In the Pacific Northwest / Northwest where I’ve lived my life no one ever says that unless it’s a Canadian using it as a general term for an American. And I don’t know how many of them actually do that…
Southerners still use the terminology of the Civil War much more than Northerners do. My mom and grandmother didn’t even call it the Civil War, they called it The War Between the States. Some call it The War of Northern Aggression. All my relatives all my life called everyone in the North Yankees.
Which I think is somewhat unfair, since to the best of my knowledge my ancestors didn’t even get here until after the war.
Late Yankees.
I’ll take the distinction.
I’d complain if you couldn’t pull crispy skin off in big chunks.
[CoC]’s. Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.
I have lived most of my life in Western Mass, about 100 miles from Boston, and have only ever seen one wild turkey, a long time ago. Turkeys are not a problem around here, which is weird, because we are a lot more rural than Boston is. I was totally unaware of Boston’s turkey problem until this thread: the things you learn on Ricochet :)
I am not concerned with what one calls it, only the eating of it. Stuffing or dressing, it tastes the same. I also am not too hung up on what bread one uses, but I’ll bet the cornbread versions are great, but not what we have traditionally used.
My wife typically preps and cooks the rest of the meal, but for my parents, and now ourselves, I cook the Turkey and the Stuffing/Dressing.
Here is my biggest heresy. We use prepackaged dressing/stuffing. Mrs Cubbison’s is the best, but Pepperidge Farms, is an acceptable substitute when I can’t find Mrs Cubbison. Next it MUST be shredded bread, cubed bread is an abomination that somehow must be responsible for all the world’s ills. Now once the bread is selected, and I usually use two bags, (three if we have more than 12 people coming to dinner),
I alter the recipe to add more melted butter. I use one cube (1/4 lb) per bag, (my parents used to use two cubes per bag, so we did lighten it up a bit) as I find that still provides the necessary level of flavor and coating. Then I add about one cup of diced onions and one cup of diced celery per bag of stuffing ( More is better, but less at your own risk). Next I add low sodium chicken broth (You salt lovers can use the regular kind) but here I am very careful. I only use enough to dampen the dressing, never enough to turn it mushy. If in doubt use even less. The biggest problem I have with most OPD (Other People’s Dressing) is it winds up a soggy wet mass on the plate that to me is unedible. I will admit that once the bird is stuffed, (front and rear) I add a bit more broth to the remaining dressing that will be cooked in roasting pans, because it dries out during cooking, and when I manage to do it right ( not always guaranteed :) ) the roasted dressing is similar in texture to what came out of the bird.
At this point in the process, I let the pile of dressing sit for 10-15 minutes (So moisture becomes evenly distributed and I can judge its level. Then I divert about 2-3 cups of the mixture to a small dish ( I have one picky daughter who won’t tolerate any more additions) and to the rest I add about one cup of dried cranberries, and one cup of diced pecans, stir, stuff the bird, put excess in the pan(s) and wait about 3-4 hours (depends on size of bird) to put pans in oven. I cook the pan stuffing about 1.5 hours at 325F, (2 hours is sometimes too long, dressing overdone) and remove. It is best to mix pan cooked with bird cooked before serving.
Result is raved about around our house, (and I get volunteered to make more for other functions). So without impugning any other persons version, that is what we enjoy each year!
If it’s cooked inside the bird, I call it stuffing. If it’s cooked separately, I call it dressing. In the words of Alton Brown, “stuffing is evil.” It is also dangerous. If you want to be sure that your stuffing is not a Salmonella-soaked death trap, you have to overcook the turkey to the point of becoming turkey jerky.
I like to start with boxed dressing, and then add sausage, herbs (sage in particular), onions, and celery.
Those are the terms they use here in NW Florida – I’ve eavesdropped a few times in lunch cafes and the post office – and I think I heard someone say “we’re ready this time” (to go to war on the North)!! I think it’s going to be started over stuffing.
This.
My kids would start a revolt if I didn’t make my usual cornbread stuffing. It has sausage and pecans and is wonderful drenched in turkey gravy. I make it in a stoneware casserole pan and there is never enough to match the amount of leftover turkey. I’ve usually started with a pan of home-made cornbread that I make a day or so in advance. It also has water chestnuts.
The first time I had stuffing with my husband’s family his grandmother made it. It was so wet the gravy would have liquified it. Also, it contained raisins. That was when I learned my husband’s family thinks everything is better with raisins.
One year a friend from Louisiana volunteered to make “real” cornbread dressing. The way they make it in her family. It started with cornbread, included some savory ingredients, but also a can of cream soup!?!? The end product was tasty but more of a custard consistency. I guess if you were brought up on it….
Actually, everything’s better with almonds.
The key phrase here is “I call it.”
I use my grandmother’s recipe, slightly altered to my own tastes by making it about 60/40 cornbread/other breads (french sandwich rolls and wheat bread are the current favorites for texture, flavor, and color) and adding chopped apple and dried cranberries. I don’t ever call it stuffing unless it’s been in the bird, which it never is. My mom told me the secret to a moist stuffing is a can of cream of mushroom soup, which is mixed into the bread before adding the broth. There is also chopped boiled egg rather than scrambled egg cooked as I’ve seen in other recipes. Last spring my wife planted sage, so this year’s dressing was filled with home grown & dried sage which was the best. And one of the best Christmas presents this year was the mortar and pestle with which I will grind the sage in the future.
Raisins should never be cooked, imho.
It’s stuffing because that’s what it says on the box.
Northerners. I tease Terry by calling him a Yankee sometimes, but I would never seriously call him a Yankee. I only use that term for Northerners I don’t like.
Oh, you should ask Terry for his rant on the term for Montanans next time you see him. :)
Here a while back, I made you an honorary Southerner, remember?
I hadn’t actually thought about putting pecans in it. That actually sounds pretty good! I still load up on pecans every time I go back home.