~Jessica S. Herwick
We humans like to fill things up. It’s true. We stuff our pockets, backpacks, purses until they overflow.
We can’t ignore holes in the lawn.
We fill grocery and garbage bags alike to the very top before we realize
their weight. Ever have to sit on
your suitcase to zip it closed?
We’re all guilty of it in some way. Many of us have competed with friends to fit the most of some
small edible treat in our mouths.
I myself won the skittles contest we held on the wing of my college dorm
during a blizzard. Eighty-nine at
one time! It would’ve been 90 but
I accidentally swallowed one. Why, exactly, we feel this impulse is
unknown. Personally, I believe
scientists and sociologists will someday discover there is a gene - a stuffing
gene - that compels us to fill empty spaces, like gangs of eternal optimists. This primal urge doesn’t just apply to
pockets and holes in the wall. Our
most favorite place to stuff is… well, you know where.
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| Photo by Jared B. Herwick |
Something about food filled with
additional flavor and texture generates a feeling of adventure, decadence, and brings
an overall unique quality to that eating experience. Even a green olive becomes more intriguing with that little
piece of pimento peeking out at you.
It would make sense, then, for the most special of meals, we go the
extra mile to build those exact qualities into the feast. As our traditions have evolved, so has
our understanding of how food works.
There are a few questions out there that seem to arise annually, just
about this time of year, when chefs and home cooks are planning out the big
menu. Really, it’s all about the
stuffing, right? Or do you call it
dressing?
I set out this year in search of some
answers and some solutions to the ever-evolving Thanksgiving debates. Although I will not be able to help you
with arguments about who’s going to win the big game, we might be able to
settle a few other looming questions before that
debate begins. To help me out
with this task, I enlisted the advice of Mike Chowansky, graduate of Johnson
& Whales University, who lives with his wife and two children in Havertown
and has over 10 years of experience in the Philadelphia food scene. He’s also
most often the Thanksgiving Dinner chef, so he knows his turkeys. According to Chowansky, “There are more
recipes for stuffing than there are pizza shops in New York City. It is the quintessential Thanksgiving
dish that everyone makes, has a secret recipe for, and is used to judge the
overall Thanksgiving feast.” No
wonder we take it so seriously!
A Little History…
Like gravy on mashed potatoes, stuffing
has a long history of appearing on dining tables throughout centuries of
celebratory banquets all over the world.
The earliest recorded mention of stuffing our food appears in the oldest
cookbook on record, ‘Apicius de re Coquinaria’, as recorded by Roman gourmet
Apicius, so we’ve been doing this for a very long time. Somewhere around the 1st
century AD, Apicius and other Romans were stuffing dormouse, hare, pig and
chicken. Stuffing recommendations
such as herbs, nuts, spelt, chopped liver, and occasionally brains were part of
these early recipes. The Native Americans
and Pilgrims most likely stuffed the first Thanksgiving turkey, but according
to assumptions by specialists, they used herbs and vegetables (most likely
onions), to fill the cavity and flavor the meat. It was not meant to be a separate dish for consumption.
The Bedouins may take the cake… or the
camel as the case may be… for the most outrageously aggressive stuffing recipe in history, the Traditional Bedouin Stuffed Camel. Yes, you heard that right... a camel. According to legend, and a few travelers who claim to have
witnessed such feasts, the traditional wedding dish served at the marriages of
sheiks and of their family members was a whole camel, stuffed to unbelievable
proportions and cooked for several days, much like a pig roast. Mentioned by T.C. Boyle in Water Music,
the Guinness Book of World Records as “the largest item in any menu in the
world, occasionally served at Bedouin wedding feasts” and appearing on a
“Breakfast Tips” card included with the remastered CD version of Pink Floyd’s
album Atom Heart Mother, the recipe goes something like this. ‘ Medium
sized camel. Skinned, trimmed and
cleaned. Stuffed with sheep -
stuffed with seasoned bustards – stuffed with carp – stuffed with eggs and/or
dates, and baked on hot coals for several days.’ Take that, Turducken!
So Is It Dressing or Stuffing, Then?
According to the National Turkey
Association, the terms stuffing and dressing can be used interchangeably. I didn’t want to believe this was
true. So, once again, I sought out
my expert. And to my dismay,
Chowansky agrees definitively, “Tomato, Tom(ah)to. Stuffing.
Dressing. It’s all the
same!” Whether you are passing the
dressing or the stuffing, they are both “used to fill the cavity of the
bird. Dressing comes to us from
the much more refined folks living below the Mason Dixon Line. They wouldn’t be caught dead saying
stuffing. That was much too
common.” So, there you have it. This is a personal decision
having nothing to do with where the filling cooked, but where the cook was
born and raised.
To Stuff or Not To Stuff…
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| Photo By Jared B. Herwick |
No matter what you call it, where you
put it does matter, and will dictate
the timing of your meal. You’ve
heard the warnings and concerns regarding the potential food safety issues
related to cooking your stuffing inside your turkey.
FACT – Turkeys and other animals contain bacteria that will
make us humans sick. The bacteria
dies at certain temperatures, which is why we are so careful about cooking
them.
FACT: These bacteria,
especially those living in the turkey before you cook it, love your grandma’s
stuffing as much as you do. You
may wish to bathe in it, but the bacteria don’t have to wish, they soak in it -
at least until everything reaches 165°F. And that means everything,
right down to the center of the stuffing inside the cavity.
Mike says it’s safer and tastier to
cook them separately. The culinary artist in him says, “I
would never stuff a bird. You have
to cook it much longer when stuffed to properly heat and kill
the bacteria
that was living in the bird and that now resides in your stuffing. Longer cooking time
equals dry bird.”
Ready to Separate the Bread from the
Bird?
If you’re ready to start new stuffing... or dressing... traditions, and you're ready to roast the bird all by himself, consider these tasty tricks and compromises.
* When you make your stuffing, adding an
egg (if you don’t already) will keep the bread moist and fluffy.
* If you miss that “wet stuffing” texture,
try covering the stuffing with foil as soon as it’s finished baking to create a
tight seal. Do not remove until
you serve. The foil will condense
and lock in moisture, increasing that “wet” feel as if it’s come from the bird
(although you are giving up those crispy little ends.) If left standing too long it
can get soggy. Keep your eye on
it!
Not Quite Ready?
If you’re steadfast in your
stuffing/dressing/filling traditions, know that the safe-zone for internal
temperature is 165°F,
for turkey AND the very center of the inserted filling. See the following links for information
on the USDA and National Turkey Association pages to ensure you’re meeting
safety standards! Always use a
meat thermometer, and ensure the thermometer is calibrated.
Penn State Extension Publication: Safe Turkey Handling Practices http://news.psu.edu/story/295976/2013/11/20/dont-overlook-safe-turkey-handling-practices-happy-holiday
National Turkey Federation Homepage: http://www.eatturkey.com/
Consider Putting It Somewhere Else Entirely!
So many traditional dishes all over the world stuff some form of pepper or other sturdy vegetable common to the various regions. Spanish, Mexican, Mediterranean, Indian, Middle Eastern and Romanian cuisines all brag their own special blends of grains, herbs, spices and meats for their traditional stuffed vegetable dishes. From dolma to pimientos rellenos, there’s quite literally a whole world of recipes out there to fill your fruits and veggies. This time of year it seems most of the fruits and veggies in autumn harvest are practically cooking vessels by design.
Over the years, I have experimented with
a variety of recipes like this, seeking to replace some of those familiar
comforts of the Thanksgiving feast without forgoing all the comfort. Veggies are delicious, but they aren’t
very cozy all by themselves. With the debates about the food safety issues presented by our modern holiday
habit of filling the raw turkey and cooking the stuffing inside, I thought it
might be time to share some of my more refined recipes for bacteria-free
stuffed fare and encourage all you chefs out there to consider a shift in your
perspective on Thanksgiving stuffing.
You don’t HAVE to stuff the bird.
You don’t HAVE to stuff an animal at all! Go ahead and remove that apple from the piggy’s mouth, carve
it out, and put something delicious in there.
The food is the casing, the insides that
you dig out become part of the recipe, can at times be set aside for
later use (like roasting your squash seeds), or go right back into your compost
pile. No waste. At the end of the meal, if anything
remains of your apples, squashes and peppers, you can rinse the remnants well
and place them into the compost pile as well! I like to think of it as eco-thankful! And in a way, a return to tradition. It’s easy to appreciate the sustenance
of the harvest when the beauty of the pumpkins, peppers and apples are roasted
and set on the table in their colorful original form. This is much closer to the way our ancestors thought about
and utilized their food back on that fateful day in Plymouth. Neither Native American nor Colonist
was interested in wasting any part of the food that would soon become
scarce. They might have stuffed
their fowl with onions and garden herbs instead of bread cubes, but they
utilized every possible piece. I
often wonder this time of year what the first people who sat for that
Thanksgiving feast would think of our modern grocery stores and walk-in
freezers.
Here are some of my favorite recipes that
would not only fit right in at your holiday table, but have definite potential
to become a traditional feasting favorite. Prepare to hear requests when the next holiday rolls
around. It’s all stuffed!
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Bread Pudding Stuffed Apples (Serves
4)
List of Ingredients:
4 large, crisp apples (carved and
insides diced). 1 egg slightly
beaten. 1 cup milk or half and
half. 1 cup 1-inch moist bread
cubes (one-inch cubes best). 2 tsp
Vanilla. 3 tbs cinnamon. 1 tbs dried sage. 1 tbs ¼ teaspoon nutmeg. ¼ teaspoon cardamom.
1/8 tsp salt. ½ cup brown
sugar. ¼ cup raisins
(optional). Muffin Tin. Butter for greasing tin.
List of Instructions: Preheat oven to 300°F
Prepare the Apple: Cut apples at top like a jack-o-lantern. Gently cut out most of the
cores and set aside for compost.
Be sure to leave the bottom ½” of the core at the bottom as support for
the body of the apple. Gently cut
or carve out the meat inside the apple making a cavern for the batter, leaving
a thick layer of meat (at least ¼” thick) against the skin. Set apple pieces aside, and chop into
small pieces to add to batter. Rub
the skin of the apple lightly with olive or vegetable oil and place in muffin
tin for support while baking.
Prepare the Stuffing: Combine all above
ingredients in a bowl. Stir until
well blended with a wooden spoon or spatula. Do not use a mixer for this. Continue folding until bread cubes soak up the liquid and
begin to break apart. Allow batter
to sit for a few minutes until all the liquid is completely soaked up and
batter is fluffy. Fill each apple
half-way and sprinkle a little brown sugar on top. Place in oven.
Bake until apple is soft (but not falling apart) and the stuffing rises
and is no longer runny. Serve warm
with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Cook’s Notes: This batter expands to almost double in size. Consider this when filling your apples! Sometimes it is easier to use a fifth
apple to make the diced apple portion.
Depends on how good you are at carving out the meat. I always keep and extra apple set aside
when making this. For grown-up
deserts, you can substitute Baileys, Kahlua or Cask and Cream for the milk.
* * *
Pumpkin Pie Stuffed Roasted Pumpkin (Serves 4)
List of Ingredients: 4 mini-baking
pumpkins about 4 inches in diameter.
If your mini pumpkins are 5-6 inches in diameter, double the recipe and
bake what remains in muffin tin or custard cups. 8 oz cream cheese softened. 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 egg plus 1 additional yolk. 1/3 cup pumpkin puree. 1 teaspoon vanilla. 1 tsp cinnamon. ¼ tsp sage. ¼ tsp cardamom.
¼ tsp nutmeg. (1/4 tsp
cloves. I leave them out due to
certain allergic reactions cloves can cause).
List of Instructions: Preheat oven to 350°F
Prepare the Pumpkin: Cut top off and gut like a jack-o-lantern, leaving a thick layer of the
pumpkin meat to support the frame.
Set seeds aside to be roasted later on.
Rub the outside & tops of the pumpkins with vegetable
oil. Set in lightly oiled baking dishes for support.
Prepare the Stuffing: Mix the cream cheese, sugar, egg and
yolk until they form a soft paste.
Add pumpkin, vanilla, herbs & spices and continue to mix until
smooth and well blended. Pour mixture into hollowed out pumpkins about halfway
(2/3 if the pumpkins are closer to 6”)
Bake in oven until filling rises and sets like a cheesecake, about 25-30
minutes. Remove from oven. Chill for at least an hour before
serving. Top with whipped cream
and pieces of shortbread pie-crust cookies.
Cook’s Notes: This batter will expand to at least double in size (if not
more before it cools and settles).
DO NOT FILL MORE THAN HALFWAY!
* * *
Fancy Cheese Stuffed Cherry Hot Peppers (or any pepper) (serves 4)
List of Ingredients: 12-16 (depending on size) small to medium sized cherry hot peppers, fresh. 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, 6-8 oz. goat cheese. ½ cup soft bread cubes diced. 3 tbs vegetable broth. 1 tbs fresh oregano chopped. 1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped. ¼ tsp ground pepper. ¼ tsp ground sea salt.
*You can add 1/4 cup vegetarian crumbles or cooked, ground beef to these. I like them without.
List of Instructions: Preheat oven to 375°F
Prepare the Cherry Hot Peppers: Cut the top off the peppers and scrape out seeds and pithy white insides. Peppers can be cut at the top or down the middle. Rinse peppers and dry. Set each pepper in a muffin tin, or line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Rub the peppers inside and out with olive oil and set on baking sheets.
Prepare the Stuffing: Combine bread cubes, vegetable broth and parmesan. Stir until the bread breaks down and blends into itself. Add goat cheese, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper. Stir until well combined. Fill cherry red peppers on baking sheets. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the tops. You can also use parmesan or mozzarella if you're playing with flavors. Bake for 15-20 minutes until edges of peppers are soft and starting to crisp on the edges, topping is turning golden brown, and mixture is no longer bubbling heavily. Let stand for 5 minutes and serve.
Cook’s Notes: When preparing the cherry red hot peppers, USE GLOVES! Also, if you can work in a well-ventilated area, you should. As soon as the seeds hit water and you continue to agitate the pepper releasing those oils, the fumes will cause skin, nose, eye and even throat reactions. I like to serve the cherry hots with a little sour cream on the side for those who don't enjoy the good burn of a hot pepper quite as much as I do.
* * *
Soup in a Gourd (or Pumpkin) (serves 4)
List of Ingredients: One very large baking pumpkin, hubbard squash or butternut squash. 4 small shallots, diced. 1 small apple, peeled, cored and diced (no more than 1 cup diced). 1 large clove garlic, diced. 1-2 cups vegetable broth (start with 1 cup and add depending on size of gourd). 1/2 cup heavy cream. 1tbs unsalted butter. 4 - 8oz goat cheese. 2 tbs fresh chopped sage. 2 tbs fresh chopped thyme. 2 tbs fresh chopped parsley. 1 tbs kosher salt. 1 tsp. ground black pepper. Casserole dish to support pumpkin(s). Emersion mixer. Vegetable oil to rub pumpkin skin and top and grease casserole dishes. 
List of Instructions: Preheat oven to 375 °F
Prepare Pumpkin as you would for a jack-o-lantern. Gut, set seeds aside, leave as much meat as possible lining the edges of the pumpkin.
Prepare the soup: Place broth, cream, apples, garlic, shallots, butter, salt and pepper directly into the pumpkin and stir lightly. Place top back on pumpkin and bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from oven. Stir gently. Add goat cheese, sage, thyme, parsley and use a soup spoon to gently scrape the now softening pumpkin meat into the soup (careful not to dig too deep or cut through the pumpkin). Stir, place top back on pumpkin and return to oven to bake for another 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven, using emersion mixer, blend the contents directly inside the pumpkin (again, careful not to compromise the pumpkin shell) until it becomes a creamy, smooth liquid. Serve immediately (in bread bowls if you have the time!)
Cooks Notes: If you are reserving the pumpkin seeds, they make a great garnish all roasted up!
Click the link to connect to the Winter Squash Seed blog for a how-to.
Click the link to connect to the Winter Squash Seed blog for a how-to.
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