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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!
Back when I was building restaurants, one of my partners was from somewhere south of Atlanta. Every once in a while he’d bring in a gunny sack full of pecans he picked up out of his yard. Paper shell ones, too.
There’s a term for Montanans?
Now that you mention it I do. If I could also remember why I think I’d be doing all right.
Using the term “Yankee” against Montanans.
My mother in law got a card from her son’s friend in GA – the card depicts Robert E. Lee and two soldiers kneeling in the snow praying before a battle – I can’t imagine where you would get a card like that – he participates in a regimen in GA that does the battle reenactments of the Civil War. Do they do that in the north? I remember seeing it done in a park somewhere but I can’t remember what state I was in.
Yes. Greenfield Village has re-enactors every year on some date in the summer. Both Yankees and Americans.
hahaha
There is at least 1 Civil War re-enactment troupe that I’ve heard of in Montana. Most re-enactments are the battles between Native Americans and colonists, like Custer’s Last Stand.
I was hoping someone would catch that. ?
It has to have some cornbread because regular bread ends up gummy.
My mother’s recipe was: make a pan of cornbread, sauté onions and celery in butter (lots of butter), crumble the cornbread, mix all with one package of Pepperidge Farm seasoned stuffing mix, moisten with broth made from the turkey neck, put in larger pan and bake.
I live in Florida which is chock-a-block with Yankees. Matter of fact, I only have one other Southerner to keep up the side. To appropriate a Yankee phrase, “They (Yankees) don’t know from dressing.” However, once they tasted mine, it’s now required at any Thanksgiving meal we are invited to.
What would you call someone from Arizona? Or Hawaii?
Are there lots of opinion on cranberry sauces? (other than NOT from a can!)
This was the first year I made my own cranberry sauce. I made a sugar free version – using Truvia sugar substitute instead. It turned out fairly good. Just cranberries 1/2 cup of Truvia (which is fantastic because its outrageously expensive) and boil in a cup of water.
I think next year I want to try something like this:
https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/worlds-best-cranberry-sauce/
Westerners and Islanders? Or maybe just their appropriate state-ian-ism?
My mom has been making chutney the last few years, though we generally never ate cranberry sauce with our holiday meals.
Its the only meals when we would have Cranberries… I dont think you can even get them in a store otherwise…
Now that you mention it, yeah. I’ve really only seen dried cranberries near the salad stuff.
Depending on how much you like cranberries, you’re missing out then. I think the WI cranberry marketing board has been shelling out some dough to get cranberries marketed the past few years. I’ve seen them in salsa, cheese, sausage (I think), probably some desserts. They’re around all right.
It may be the only time you happen to look. People who look can get them anytime.
My daughter worked for a low-income elderly lady who was eligible for some kind of commodity distribution. She always got loads of pinto beans, brown rice, and cranberry products – along with a few other things. The lady didn’t like cranberries so we ended up with all of it.
My grandmother and mother always made cranberry sherbet, served in little individual footed glass dishes with the Thanksgiving meal. (Or any special meal where we had turkey.)