Working on my stuffing


 

Clint

TVWBB Olympian
I tried cornbread stuffing & it was pretty good but not my style. I'm going to try bread crumbs from the grocery store next,,,,looks like they put a good variety of cubes in there from their bakery........ guess I'd better get it before they run out :)

For this I made up 12 cornbread muffins (same amount as an 8"x8"x2" cake pan, per their the recipe on the bag), but 3 of the muffins vanished.

I used 1# of country sausage, 1 large yellow onion, one apple, 3-4 stalks of celery with most of the leaves/tops on since that part seems to have the strongest celery flavor. A little S&P, some sage (threw out my old bottle of dried sage, it must've been 10 years old - grabbed a new jar @ the store).

I used a little Chef Merito chicken seasoning on there along with about 1.5 cups of water instead of bullion (chicken stock). After it was cooked and mixed up I tasted it and added some quartered dates (gonna just halve them next time) and a bunch of chopped kalamata olives to counter the flavor in the marie calendar's corn bread that I didn't like. I tried some of this on the side before adding it in, it did the trick without flavoring the dish (removed a bad flavor & didn't add another - weird).

I really liked the sage flavoring, in fact I bumped it up once (considered twice but didn't and glad I didn't).

This is 10x the dressing than what I'm used to, no it's not grandma's or the aunt's, and I'm going to try again to find what I like better, but this was good.

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After lunch entertainment - Pre-carnage (I'm playing white----yes, I've been chessing again <beginning enthusiast>):

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GRRRRRRRRRR
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I followed a recipe from Larry Wolfe, linked in post 3: http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?629...stuffing-ideas&p=697459&viewfull=1#post697459
 
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That looks pretty good Clint, wise thing you did ditching the old sage, fresh seasonings make a world of difference. Not to say that Barb and I don't have some prehistoric seasoning floating around in our two spice drawers.
Never been a cornbread stuffing fan ether. I make the one I grew up with and use pulled apart white bread. I make it just like my Grandmother did sage, celery seed, poultry seasoning, chicken broth if needed, eggs, the broth from the turkey "parts", celery, pepper, diced onion and of course the white bread. Cook the onion and celery in a pan of melted butter to soften then just mix it all together and I just go by looks and taste until I get it where I want it.
Not going to be on the cover of Healthy Eating but once a year it's my special treat.
Going to get the stuffing dry ingredients mixed today and smoke the bird which I put in the brine yesterday so Barb and I can be on cruise control tomorrow.
Hope you have a great Thanksgiving Clint.
 
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Stuffing looks good, bud. I'm a backgammon man myself. ;)

You know, I don't remember playing that since I was a teenager - maybe I'll give it a shot :)


That looks pretty good Clint, wise thing you did ditching the old sage, fresh seasonings make a world of difference. Not to say that Barb and I don't have some prehistoric seasoning floating around in our two spice drawers.
Never been a cornbread stuffing fan ether. I make the one I grew up with and use pulled apart white bread. I make it just like my Grandmother did sage, celery seed, poultry seasoning, chicken broth if needed, eggs, the broth from the turkey "parts", celery, pepper, diced onion and of course the white bread. Cook the onion and celery in a pan of melted butter to soften then just mix it all together and I just go be looks and taste until I get it where I want it.
Not going to be on the cover of Healthy Eating but once a year it's my special treat.
Going to get the stuffing dry ingredients mixed today and smoke the bird which I put in the brine yesterday so Barb and I can be on cruise control tomorrow.
Hope you have a great Thanksgiving Clint.

Thanks for the pointers Rich! I'm about to run off & pick up a bag of bread crumbs or some rustic loafs if I can't find anything else. I'm not doing a big thing this year,,,,going to go to have Tday with family & friends after skiing, & cooking a boneless/skinless breast from Costco just for fun. I'm going to try Franklin's turkey rub (basically just S&P) on it.....probably cook that over the long weekend or ?

Hope you all have a good one yourselves!
 
Clint your stuffing looks awesome and to your point I'm not a cornbread stuffing person. Have to have the white bread and all that good stuff that goes in it. One thing Rich forgot to share, is that when we pull the bread apart we have two ladies right in front. They have to get their share of bread also. Wishing you and your family a Happy and safe Thanksgiving.
 
Clint your stuffing looks awesome and to your point I'm not a cornbread stuffing person. Have to have the white bread and all that good stuff that goes in it. One thing Rich forgot to share, is that when we pull the bread apart we have two ladies right in front. They have to get their share of bread also. Wishing you and your family a Happy and safe Thanksgiving.

:) The leftovers just a few hours later were even better than it was when fresh. There's just something in that cornbread mix that never agreed with me. I won't rule out CB stuffing, but I'm ruling out Marie Calendars cornbread mix from Costco.

Roxy's treats will be a few pieces (she got a couple of croutons yesterday And a pig ear :) )...no sausage though yesterday....today or tomorrow, when I make this next batch I'll give her a bit.

I went to the grocery store this morning & the BIG bags of breadcrumbs they used to have are now about the size of a loaf and are priced @ $4 each.

So for my next batch I'll be using a rustic loaf of sourdough & 2 sourdough baguettes all sliced @ 15mm, I grabbed a loaf of pumpernickel from their bakery to use (I can't remember the flavor -hope it's good), and I have a third uncut SD baguette in case it's needed.. Wish me luck on stuffing, round 2! If it's great I'll take some to dinner tomorrow.
 
Happy Thanksgiving Clint. My mom always made stuffing from scratch, my wife learned it from her.
 
Here it is before the oven, I can't imagine it looking any better than this so I'm posting it now :)

This was one rustic (round & crusty) sourdough loaf
3 sourdough baguettes
1 small loaf of pumpernickel bread
4 oz walnuts
2 largish white onions
1 pasilla pepper
probably 22 dates, some whole, some halved, some chopped
~8 stalks of celery with leaves & all (after trimmed)
~4tsp thyme
~4.5 tsp sage
pepper
salt
5 cups water
12 shakes from my Chef Merito's chicken seasoning (instead of bullion or broth)
1.5 # country sausage

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I broke up the bread & let it sit in my stock pot last night uncovered, this morning I started browning the sausage in said stockpot (after moving the bread to a brew kettle) & added the onions while still a little raw, cooked for ~5 minutes, then added the chopped celery, dates, & walnuts. I let them cook for a couple minutes while adjusting the seasoning & then added 5 cups of water & the chef meritos. After I was happy with everything (made the flavor just a little strong because it was about to be diluted by half) I poured a little of the goodness over the bread, held the brew kettle at an angle & it mixed it around nicely.... repeated that several times & then I filled two oiled cake pans (after having a little for breakfast to make sure it was good).
 
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I made this again yesterday, this time I used two-thirds of a bunch of celery, 1 large white onion, 3/4 crusty sourdough loaf (I kept tearing pieces off & eating them before it was time for dinner).


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I sauteed the veggies in a dutch oven with a half stick (4T) of butter, I added probably 1.5-2 T of sage & thyme, some chef merito's chicken seasoning, a little water, oh and half a habanero, minced & sauteed with the rest. I just tore the bread up and added it to the sauteed veggies and stirred it around. I dunno how much water - maybe 1/2 cup. I added a bunch, maybe 8-10oz chopped dates.

The amount of water was just a little too much, so I threw it in the oven @ ~350f for probably 40 minutes and stirred it every 10-20 minutes. It has some heat, not a lot of sage flavor, just right. I wouldn't have added the hab but it was sitting there and would have likely gone bad. The heat is nice!


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Stove top is for the birds!
 
Another batch of stuffing coming up! This time I left out the hot peppers (I like it better with them!).

Today's batch:

1.5 loaves of sourdough
1.5# spicy italian sausage
~3/4 of a bunch of celery, included the leaves
~3.5 Tbsp each of sage & thyme (approximate)
~2 Tbsp chef merito's chicken seasoning instead of bullion or salt
7.5 oz Walnuts
2 onions, rough dice
1 red bell pepper, rough dice (use jalapenos if your diners like it!)
~3/4 cup craisins


Brown the sausage and leave it chunky like small meatballs, not broken down like sloppy joes, when halfway browned I added half the veggies, cooked them down for a few, then through in the spices, put the rest of the veggies in, & then started chopping/breaking the fresh sourdough loaves. I put in the craisins & walnuts almost at the end as I didn't want the nuts to get soft, I wanted the walnuts to keep their shape and have a little bite. Stirred around, added 1.5 cups water, & did some quality control by having a plate for dinner.

I put it in a couple of cake pans but only filled up 1.3 cake pans, so I could've used more bread to fill both pans. I set the oven to 350f, covered with foil & baked for 15 minutes, uncovered the pans & let them go for another 10, they're cooling now and will just have to be reheated tomorrow.

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Another hit Clint!
I used a New York Times “Brioche, Chestnut Stuffing” recipe this year, it’s in the oven now and I will re heat it when feasting time grows closer.
The bird goes on about 2:00
Yippee!
 

 

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