Brown Butter Sage Stuffing
Is it stuffing or is it dressing? Whether you refer to it as stuffing or dressing, or you serve it inside the turkey or outside, one thing is for sure: Thanksgiving is not complete without it!
What is Stuffing?
Food historians tell us that stuffing (aka dressing, cramming) the cavities of fowl and other animals with mixtures of breads, spices and other chopped items is an ancient practice. The Romans and the Arabs have been using such cooking techniques for a really long time. But the “stuffing” as we know it today, especially during Thanksgiving in the USA and Canada, comes from Medieval European culinary traditions, also known as "forcemeat" in English and "farce" in French.
We don't know if the Pilgrims had prepared stuffing during the very first Thanksgiving, but History.com points out that it's very likely that the very first feast included some sort of wild game stuffed and served with wild rice. As the years went by, New Englanders added chestnuts, Bostonians made oyster-based recipes, and Southerners used cornbread as a stuffing base. Our stuffing recipe is more of a modern take — packed with a ton of goodies like brown butter, brioche bread, herbacious sage sausage and fresh apples.
Stuffing vs Dressing
On this side of the country, we call it stuffing. But I learned that if it’s being cooked inside the turkey, it’s called a stuffing. If it’s being cooked separately, it’s a dressing. I have always been against cooking stuffing inside the bird because it’s just a giant mush. A proper baked stuffing with a evenly crisp top is more up my alley any day. Turns out there are plenty more reasons why stuffing should be cooked outside.
According to many chefs, stuffing is just downright evil. That's because stuffing goes into the middle of the bird and is extremely porous. That means that as the turkey around it cooks, juices that may contain salmonella bacteria soak into the stuffing, which then must be cooked to a minimum of 165°F in order to be safe. Getting the stuffing to this temperature usually means overcooking the turkey. And if your turkey is nice and moist, then that means your stuffing is uncooked and that’s a sure way to treat yourself to some food poisoning.
Recipe | Serving: 3-6
Ingredients
Sandwich bread, Brioche or Potato - ⅔ cup, cut into 1 inch pieces
Butter - 2 tbsp
Sage Sausage, Pork or Turkey - 8 oz
Onion - ½ cup, chopped
Celery - 1 large rib, chopped
Garlic - 1 large clove, minced
Apple - ½, chopped
Sage - 1 tbsp (fresh) or ½ tsp (dried)
Chicken Stock - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Salt - ½ tsp
Black Pepper - ¼ tsp
Parsley - 1 tbsp
Pomegranate Arils - 1/8 cup
Directions
Preheat the oven to 275°F. Spread bread evenly over a rimmed baking sheet. Bake bread cubes for about 30 minutes until completely dried, making sure to stir in between. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat until foaming subsides, about 2 minutes. Immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and begin stirring to move the butter around as it melts. In about 5-8 minutes the butter will turn golden brown and the milk solids on the bottom of the pan will have started to toast. Aah the smell is just divine — intensely buttery, nutty, and rich.
Important Note: Pay attention when browning the butter. There’s only a few seconds between brown butter and burnt butter, so keep your eye on the stove the entire time. Don’t walk away and don’t stop stirring!
In a heat proof bowl, add the sage and pour the hot brown butter on top of the sage. It should hiss and immediately release it’s aroma. Set it aside.
In the same skillet, increase the heat back to medium and add the sage sausage. Stir it around and mash with a potato masher to break up into small pieces. Cook, stirring frequently, until only a few bits of pink remain, about 8-10 minutes.
Add onion, celery, garlic, apple and brown butter with sage to the skillet. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until all vegetables (and fruits) are softened, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and add half of chicken stock to the skillet, and mix well.
Whisk the remaining chicken stock, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl until homogenous. Stirring constantly, slowly pour egg mixture into sausage-vegetable mixture.
Important Note: The reason for adding half a cup of room temperature stock to the hot sausage mixture is so when the egg is added it doesn’t curdle immediately.
Add toasted bread cubes then fold gently until evenly mixed. Transfer to a buttered baking dish, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and bake. After 45 minutes, remove foil and continue baking until golden brown and crisp on top, 15 - 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes.
Right before serving, garnish with parsley or sage and pomegranate arils.
If you do recreate our recipe, be sure to
TAG & FOLLOW @TheSpiceOdyssey
Stay up to date with us on Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube and Facebook.
