Thanksgiving Dinner usually contains one of my most favorite dishes: dressing. Down South, the ladies would compete to see who made the best dressing. The one with the least to take home earned bragging rights for the whole year. My brother's Godmother, Aunt Irene had a cook who kept a bag in the freezer containing the ends of the bread loaf, left over rolls and biscuits, plain pasta, unsweetened cereal, crackers and spare pieces of cornbread. A couple days before Thanksgiving, she served a meal containing corn, rice or barley, and made enough for leftovers. Early on Thanksgiving Day, when she put the turkey in the oven, she took out all the leftovers containing grain or flour and tore them into chunky pieces. They dried out in a big bowl in the kitchen while the rest of the meal was being prepared. She sautéed diced celery, sweet onions, and parsley until they were tender. She added a pinch of fresh sage. The vegetables and herbs were tossed with the mixture of bread, rolls, biscuits, crackers, cereal, pasta, cornbread, corn, rice, and barley. A couple hours before dinner, she drained off some of the turkey broth. The fat was used to make gravy. The juice was blended with raw eggs and poured over the dry ingredients, soaking it all. This mixture was spooned into a large baking pan and placed in the oven with the turkey to bake at 275 F for a couple hours, until golden brown.
Soups like Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Celery, Chicken Noodle, Chicken and Rice, Creamy Potato, Potato and Leek, etc. are tasty replacements for the broth. The key to the dressing is a combination of three or more starches and grains, to make a complete protein, plus eggs, broth, vegetables and herbs. I occasionally include leftover mashed potatoes and Cheerios in my dressing.
Aunt Irene's cook also made stuffing for the turkey. This was generally made from cooked rice, pecans and raisins. A variation contained barley, walnuts and dates. I am sure you can think of other combinations of whole grain, nuts, and dried fruit. When cooked without the turkey, I call this pilaf.
The bag of stuffing that you buy at the store can be combined with vegetables, eggs, extra broth and leftovers at home to make dressing. Or you can follow the recipe and use it to stuff the bird, where it will absorb the fat and juice inside the bird as it cooks.
Get creative and share your recipes when you reply to this thread.
Happy Eating!
Pam |
