Sausage in stuffing.

Who does this? Why? Do you need to use pork to hide how lackluster your stuffing is? Are you afraid of offal meats? I mean, you get a bag of them with the bird.. they are the bird.. the stuffing is an accoutrement for the bird.. why in god's name are you overpowering the stuffing and the bird with sausage?

Because it tastes good ... along with chestnuts and a bunch of other stuff.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Because it tastes good ... along with chestnuts and a bunch of other stuff.

Regards,

Right, this is not an assault on sausage. Sausage tastes very good. But so do truffles. Why not just poor truffle oil into everything?

guess you don't like oyster stuffing either??

To each their own...no accounting for tastes. Some folks like meat in their stuffing.......or oysters. I say nix on that..........I like my stuffing plain with sage, onion, celery, etc. I could see putting some dried fruit in it like dried cranberries or such. I think its what you grew up on. We never had meat in our stuffing but some people love it. I don't think its to disguise anything.

Why not? I usually make 2 different stuffings, one with sausage, one without. Sometimes I make cornbread stuffing. I like pretty much all of them (except for oyster and cracker-types).

I agree in principle with our crabby new friend - I have been served some appalling sausage stuffings over the years, including one that incorporated pepperoni (!), and have found that they can derail a meal.

I am a bread stuffing purist, I guess, preferring a mix using good wheat bread cubes, a little celery, and onion (both finely chopped), sauteed in a mix of butter & peanut/sunflower/grapeseed oil. I then add a bit of an appropriate stock, just to moisten, whatever fresh herb seems a foil for the meat, some chopped apricots and toasted walnuts, and pack loosely into a casserole, to be baked alongside the fowl or pork cut of choice. No mushrooms, either. The texture seems so unpleasant in a stuffing.

sundevilpeg wrote:I agree in principle with our crabby new friend - I have been served some appalling sausage stuffings over the years, including one that incorporated pepperoni (!), and have found that they can derail a meal.

I am a bread stuffing purist, I guess, preferring a mix using good wheat bread cubes, a little celery, and onion (both finely chopped), sauteed in a mix of butter & peanut/sunflower/grapeseed oil. I then add a bit of an appropriate stock, just to moisten, whatever fresh herb seems a foil for the meat, some chopped apricots and toasted walnuts, and pack loosely into a casserole, to be baked alongside the fowl or pork cut of choice. No mushrooms, either. The texture seems so unpleasant in a stuffing.

I guess I did come across as crabby, but the thought originated after overhearing a woman explaining to friends, "Yes, its great! You just take the White Castle burgers, tear them up and stuff the bird with the pieces!" I almost vomited just from the unintentional eavesdropping. Then I started to ponder where the line is. Now that you know the origin of my post, hopefully you can understand the tone I took.

Anyways, I pretty much agree with your rough sketch of a good stuffing. I personally do prefer mine a bit more moist- I like it to be one scoop-able homogeneous dish, not a bunch of damp bread crumbs tumbling around the plate. As for the garnishes you and others have suggested.. I don't have a problem with things that, outside of the stuffing, would make sense served alongside the roasted bird. Nuts, dried fruit, cranberries, mirepoix, etc all make sense. As for oysters, my first reaction is "no thanks." But having never tried it, who knows, it could be good.

Stuffing without Sausage.

Who does this? Why? Do you deny the wonderfulness of the pork-related products? Are you just trying to allow the subtitles of the stale store-bought bread and canned chicken broth to shine through? Was your mother a bad cook who used frenchy-sounding terms like accoutrement? I mean, it's not like you have to make the sausage yourself or anything. You can use the damn Jimmy Dean stuff--it's already got sage in it....why in god's name don't you want your bird to have pork fat and sage love?

elakin wrote:Stuffing without Sausage.

Who does this? Why? Do you deny the wonderfulness of the pork-related products? Are you just trying to allow the subtitles of the stale store-bought bread and canned chicken broth to shine through? Was your mother a bad cook who used frenchy-sounding terms like accoutrement? I mean, it's not like you have to make the sausage yourself or anything. You can use the damn Jimmy Dean stuff--it's already got sage in it....why in god's name don't you want your bird to have pork fat and sage love?

fail. I support my disdain with sausage laced stuffing, while you take less-than-clever jabs at me. But whatever. We have decided that adding pork to everything is one of the great wonders of the culinary world along with truffles and fusion cooking. Lets wrap some foie gras in bacon, then confit it in truffle oil using vietnamese herbs and spices! How can we go wrong?

Cathy2 wrote:Because it tastes good ... along with chestnuts and a bunch of other stuff.

Regards,

Yes.

boomshakalaka wrote:Are you afraid of offal meats?

Yes.

I do a basic sausage @ Thanksgiving, its the way its always been done in my family.

I have never done the White Castle stuffing but the version Da beef knocked out this past T-day looked fantastic.

different strokes.

We have decided that adding pork to everything is one of the great wonders of the culinary world along with truffles and fusion cooking.

if by 'we', you mean 'most of the human race', then I guess I agree. humans have been salting, drying, and preserving pig parts and then enriching various dishes with the resultant salty, fatty bits for about as long as we've been domesticating animals. up until recently, salted, preserved pork fat (either smoked or not) was one of the few long-keeping types of cooking fat widely available, so it was used in nearly everything--biscuits, cornbread, all kinds of stews....etc.

it's simply a part of our American culinary heritage. it's much more due to how our agricultural systems evolved, the fact that pigs convert waste to tasty meat fairly easily, the hugeness of the country, lack of refrigeration, etc, etc...than any desire to be trendy or "fusion"-like.

no disrespect intended, though, boom shakalaka...feel free to continue your rant, which I don't find unamusing.

the last turkey I got had no heart and half a liver

Zombie turkeys are the worst!

boomshakalaka wrote:Are you afraid of offal meats?

Yes.[/quote]

This makes me sad

elakin wrote:

We have decided that adding pork to everything is one of the great wonders of the culinary world along with truffles and fusion cooking.

if by 'we', you mean 'most of the human race', then I guess I agree. humans have been salting, drying, and preserving pig parts and then enriching various dishes with the resultant salty, fatty bits for about as long as we've been domesticating animals. up until recently, salted, preserved pork fat (either smoked or not) was one of the few long-keeping types of cooking fat widely available, so it was used in nearly everything--biscuits, cornbread, all kinds of stews....etc.

it's simply a part of our American culinary heritage. it's much more due to how our agricultural systems evolved, the fact that pigs convert waste to tasty meat fairly easily, the hugeness of the country, lack of refrigeration, etc, etc...than any desire to be trendy or "fusion"-like.

no disrespect intended, though, boom shakalaka...feel free to continue your rant, which I don't find unamusing.

Well I can certainly understand why its a big part of the American diet, but I just think that it often is taken way too far. A lot of dishes with more subtle, nuanced flavors are just overrun by the addition of pork. Stuffing is one of them in my opinion.

I'm pretty sure pork makes everything better. But the chestnut stuffing I made on Thanksgiving had half the amount of sausage called for and was subtle.

boom shakalaka (love the handle, btw) what elements of "stuffing" do you feel are so subtle and nuanced? it's not like we're talking about a pristine piece of raw yellowtail here. it's dry cubed bread, some aromatics and herbs, and (usually) canned chicken stock.

do you make your own stock when you're doing a holiday bird? what kind of bird do you like to use for your stuffing? are you a "stuffing must be cooked inside the bird" type or do you employ the sidecar method?

Hi,

My Grandmother's stock dressing was bread riped into pieces. Mixed into it was chopped onions and celery cooked in butter, salt, pepper and the all important mystery spice called poultry seasoning. No stock touched her stuffing, only the juices from the bird.

Once she stuffed it and there was still some left in the bowl. No problem, she simply pushed the stuffing further into the cavity and added more.

The result was something one might call the miracle of compression rather than stuffing. It came out in large, dry hunks. I might make it someday for some nostalgia tour.

I have made stuffing with sausage for over 30 years and have not looked back.

Regards,

elakin wrote:boom shakalaka (love the handle, btw) what elements of "stuffing" do you feel are so subtle and nuanced? it's not like we're talking about a pristine piece of raw yellowtail here. it's dry cubed bread, some aromatics and herbs, and (usually) canned chicken stock.

do you make your own stock when you're doing a holiday bird? what kind of bird do you like to use for your stuffing? are you a "stuffing must be cooked inside the bird" type or do you employ the sidecar method?

Well, I started to get off topic, and was referring to the general overuse of pork, when "sublte" and "nuanced" came into play. However, compared to Jimmy Deans sausage, the balance of flavors in stuffing are- if not subtle- harmonious. Adding the pork product throws this balance off I think. Don't get me wrong though, I don't think there is one list of ingredients that belong in stuffing. For example, I've never used chestnuts, but I'm sure its amazing and fits right into the balance.

It's the exception when I do not have at least a chicken, a vegetable, and a fish stock on hand. I'm not sure what the next question is asking, but I'll try to answer: For thanksgiving we have turkey, but I believe any bird benefits from stuffing even if the stuffing isn't being served. The stuffing fills the cavity behind the breasts and promotes a more even cooking. If a bird is not stuffed it should only be par roasted whole, then the legs and breasts cooked to their appropriate temp. Personally, I rarely make the stuffing, my grandma has always made a great one. She is scared of salmonella, so she side cars it.

boomshakalaka wrote:Who does this? Why? Do you need to use pork to hide how lackluster your stuffing is? Are you afraid of offal meats? I mean, you get a bag of them with the bird.. they are the bird.. the stuffing is an accoutrement for the bird.. why in god's name are you overpowering the stuffing and the bird with sausage?

I'd bet my stuffing -- which contains homemade sausage -- is better than yours.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

boomshakalaka wrote:Who does this? Why? Do you need to use pork to hide how lackluster your stuffing is? Are you afraid of offal meats? I mean, you get a bag of them with the bird.. they are the bird.. the stuffing is an accoutrement for the bird.. why in god's name are you overpowering the stuffing and the bird with sausage?

I'd bet my stuffing -- which contains homemade sausage -- is better than yours.

=R=

Maybe we need to have an LTH "throw down?" Could be a lot of fun

I'd like to be a judge, please!

boomshakalaka wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

boomshakalaka wrote:Who does this? Why? Do you need to use pork to hide how lackluster your stuffing is? Are you afraid of offal meats? I mean, you get a bag of them with the bird.. they are the bird.. the stuffing is an accoutrement for the bird.. why in god's name are you overpowering the stuffing and the bird with sausage?

I'd bet my stuffing -- which contains homemade sausage -- is better than yours.

=R=

Maybe we need to have an LTH "throw down?" Could be a lot of fun

That does sound fun.

I think the sausage-in-stuffing tradition probably comes from the fact that (back in the day) many of the organs -- giblets, gizzards, livers, hearts, etc. -- were often minced up and stuffed back into the birds. On that basis, sausage seems like a pretty natural progression.

=R=

Who does this? Why? Do you need to use pork to hide how lackluster your stuffing is? Are you afraid of offal meats? I mean, you get a bag of them with the bird.. they are the bird.. the stuffing is an accoutrement for the bird.. why in god's name are you overpowering the stuffing and the bird with sausage?

I guess you wouldn't like to have Christmas Dinner with Gordon Ramsay. On his Christmas special on BBCA last week, his turkey "stuffing" was a baked log of seasoned ground pork, wrapped around merguez sausage, the whole encased in sage leaves. No bread, no veg. Cooked outside the bird.

rickster wrote:

Who does this? Why? Do you need to use pork to hide how lackluster your stuffing is? Are you afraid of offal meats? I mean, you get a bag of them with the bird.. they are the bird.. the stuffing is an accoutrement for the bird.. why in god's name are you overpowering the stuffing and the bird with sausage?

I guess you wouldn't like to have Christmas Dinner with Gordon Ramsay. On his Christmas special on BBCA last week, his turkey "stuffing" was a baked log of seasoned ground pork, wrapped around merguez sausage, the whole encased in sage leaves. No bread, no veg. Cooked outside the bird.

I just threw up a little in my mouth...

I can't imagine that looking very pretty. But I like the components!

Anyone who knows me knows I love my encased meats, but I'm with our anti-sausage stuffing friend here. The stuffing should be a fairly neutral counterpoint to the main dish and gravy. It certainly doesn't require any additional meat. Hell, I'm okay with giblets in the stuffing, but my ideal stuffing doesn't even have those.

In 17th and 18th century English recipes, mixtures for stuffings and forcemeats of many types were recorded. Some were combinations of seasoned cereal and fat, such as the puddings used in the recipe "to bake a Tench with a Pudding in her belly" by Murrell (1638). Others required veal, pork, or chicken meat with spices and herbs.

The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson (1999)


IMO, the turkey is just the cooking vessel for the stuffing. Now with a goose or duck, which is loaded with grease (and flavor), you don't need to add any fat/sausage to it. Fruits add a nice bit of acidity as a counterpoint to the rich meat.