Apple Cranberry Sausage Stuffing Recipe with Fresh Herbs (2024)

FAQs

What does adding egg to stuffing do? ›

Eggs: Two lightly beaten eggs help hold the dressing together and add moisture.

Dried Spices

Keep things easy with a dash of paprika or a sprinkle of cayenne. Or, totally change your stuffing mix with a spice blend like Cajun seasoning, Old Bay, poultry seasoning, adobo or Lawry's.

Absolutely. Most Thanksgiving stuffing recipes can be made at least partially in advance since: A) They're easily assembled a day or two ahead of Thanksgiving Day; and B) They're often baked using a two-step process (once covered with foil to cook through, then uncovered to achieve a crispy top).

Using finer-holed white bread instead of a more open-structured artisanal loaf means better flavor absorption and retention. Bread that's been dried out in a low oven is more absorbent than stale bread. A mixture of sage, sausage, onion, garlic, and celery lends this stuffing classic flavor.

Eggs add richness to the stuffing, and makes it cohere better. I'd use two eggs per pound of bread.

Typically, baking the stuffing inside the bird helps keep the mixture moist. “I prefer stuffing (in the bird) to dressing (outside of the bird) because all those delicious drippings that come off the turkey gets absorbed right into the stuffing,” Bamford says.

Make the stuffing, melt butter in a large frying pan and gently sauté onion and garlic for five minutes until soft. Stir in the herbs for one minute then add breadcrumbs to absorb butter. Mix in zest, pine nuts and seasoning and cook over medium heat for about seven minutes until crumbs start to brown and crisp.

Fully cook raw meat, poultry, or seafood ingredients before adding to stuffing. Combine the ingredients and place them in your bird immediately before cooking. Don't stuff whole poultry with cooked stuffing. In addition to the turkey, the stuffing's center needs to reach 165 F.

Dried Sage

Sage is a common holiday flavor used to season stuffing as well as roast vegetables. When using sage as a poultry seasoning substitute, use half as much as you normally would for poultry seasoning.

Stuffing should be moist, not dry, because heat destroys bacteria more rapidly in a moist environment. Once the bird is stuffed, it should be placed immediately in an oven set no lower than 325°F. Check out the cooking chart for recommended cooking times for stuffed turkey of various sizes.

Should I leave bread out overnight for stuffing? ›

If you use soft, fresh bread, you'll ultimately wind up with a soggy, mushy stuffing. So, how do you dry bread for stuffing? There are two ways to go about it. If you've planned your Thanksgiving dinner ahead of time, you can cut your bread into cubes and leave them out to become stale overnight.

A food thermometer should be used to ensure that the stuffing reaches the safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F. If the stuffing is inside whole poultry, take the poultry out of the oven and let it stand 20 minutes before removing the stuffing. Refrigerate cooked poultry and stuffing within 2 hours.

allow the casings to soak in warm/tepid water for at. least 15-20 minutes prior to stuffing. If not enough. water is absorbed, there will be less elasticity when.

Spacer Plates are 2-hole plates, primarily used with a stuffing tube to stuff casings. When used for this purpose remove the grinding knife. Spacer plates can only be used with bell shaped stuffing tubes.

Add at least 1 oz. of water per pound of meat to aid in the stuffing process.

Eggs play an important role in everything from cakes and cookies to meringues and pastry cream — they create structure and stability within a batter, they help thicken and emulsify sauces and custards, they add moisture to cakes and other baked goods, and can even act as glue or glaze.

Up your stuffing game with stale bread

Spread the pieces out in an even layer on a sheet pan, and let them get stale — yes, stale. If you don't have the time (or the counter space) to leave your chunks of bread out, you can put them in the oven at a low temperature to dry out, per Serious Eats.

Eggs can act as binding agents. As their proteins set, eggs bind ingredients together giving strength and stability to meatloaves, casseroles and baked goods.