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I do make a good sausage based stuffing, I just do what I watched my Grandmother do for many years.
Thing is, it pretty much has no real eye appeal. It looks like slop in a bowl. I always make extra so there is a Pyrex bowl of "dressing" and then the stuffing in the bird.
I buy Pepperidge Farm seasoned cubes, a sage based sausage tube, onions and celery and poultry seasoning. I also add 2 eggs, like Grandma did.. Salt& pepper of course..
Sautee the onion and celery, transfer to a big bowl. Add the bread cubes and raw sausage, veggie or chicken stock and pretty much mash the heck out of it with gloved hands.. Am I just over mixing?
I see these awesome photo's of stuffing online, the bread cubes look like, well.. Cubes of bread.
Not this mash stuff I make.
People like my stuffing, in fact they say it's some of the best they have had..
I'm not sure I'd change on Holidays but I'd like to experiment on my Mother (Poor Mom, but hey I was forced to drink milk out of her boobs) a picture perfect stuffing when I roast a chicken and have her over for dinner..
I would also cut back on the broth, maybe add half of your usual amount, but the liquid will turn the bread into mush. I also agree with OWS, that you goosh it too much.
My mom uses Arnold bread stuffing cubes. She adds butter, saute'd onions, celery, mushrooms and Jimmy dean breakfast sausage (out of the casing) Poultry seasoning and chicken broth. We never add eggs. she also mixes it but just to incorporate everything. She doesn't pack it tightly in the turkey either. We don't like gloppy, pasty stuffing.
We make a stuffing in my family very much like yours but we don't use cubes. We tear up whatever bread or rolls that are around, cook onion, celery, sausage meat & drain them of fat. Chop an apple or two, and some roast chestnut meats or mushrooms and it all add to the torn up bread plus salt, pepper & a lot of bells seasoning and gently fold all the stuff into the bread.
We don't use egg, we don't mush it up, just moisten it with a little chicken or turkey broth while foldiing it together. Tastes great, looks like stuffing.
If you cook your stuffing in the bird it will turn out more mushed up but the extra cooked in the pan will show the bread pieces like the photos of the golden cubes of stuffing only maybe a little bit darker in color due to the extra ingredients.
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The stuffing photos you see where the cubes really stand out don't usually have the sausage & stuff. They usually just have the packaged cubes, onion, celery and seasonings.
I always use Pepperidge Farm stuffing. Not the cubes, but the regular. I don’t precook the celery and onion and I don’t make the stuffing too wet that goes into the turkey. It gets a lot of moisture from the turkey. All I know is it’s what everyone wants so i don’t deviate.
I do make a good sausage based stuffing, I just do what I watched my Grandmother do for many years.
Thing is, it pretty much has no real eye appeal. It looks like slop in a bowl. I always make extra so there is a Pyrex bowl of "dressing" and then the stuffing in the bird.
I buy Pepperidge Farm seasoned cubes, a sage based sausage tube, onions and celery and poultry seasoning. I also add 2 eggs, like Grandma did.. Salt& pepper of course..
Sautee the onion and celery, transfer to a big bowl. Add the bread cubes and raw sausage, veggie or chicken stock and pretty much mash the heck out of it with gloved hands.. Am I just over mixing?
I see these awesome photo's of stuffing online, the bread cubes look like, well.. Cubes of bread.
Not this mash stuff I make.
People like my stuffing, in fact they say it's some of the best they have had..
I'm not sure I'd change on Holidays but I'd like to experiment on my Mother (Poor Mom, but hey I was forced to drink milk out of her boobs) a picture perfect stuffing when I roast a chicken and have her over for dinner..
Good discussion in this thread, esp the difference between stuffing and dressing. I have never ate stuffing, but I love dressing with giblet gravy.
LOL at "pretty much mash the heck out of it with gloved hands". This, my friend, is definitely why it is ending up like slop. Mashing is a big no-no when making dressing. You should basically just lightly fold everything together so each ingredient is still all in one piece, and identifiable. Easiest way is to just use a very large bowl, like twice the size of all of the ingredients, and once you have all or your ingredients added to the bowl, then pour over just enough stock to lightly cover/coat everything but not swimming in it. (always best to add a little stock first and then add more if needed) Then just fold all ingredients together until everything is lightly moistened with the stock. Do not mush, mash, blend, beat, puree nor stomp any of it LOL. Then put it in a casserole dish and bake.
Oh, I would also highly recommend adding the sausage in with the onions and celery when you saute them to make sure the sausage is actually cooked prior to adding it to the dressing. If it is added raw inside the dressing it is unlikely that it will cook through properly by the time the rest of the dressing is browned. And you surely don't want people eating raw sausage.
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