Last week we tackled the Thanksgiving turkey, so it seems only logical that this week we learn about stuffing.
Stuffing is a personal thing, I know that! Some like fruit in it, some want meat and others are purists. So, what I will give you in this class is a recipe and techniques for making a flavorful stuffing that you can personalize. The following recipe serves six to eight people.
Let’s get cooking!
Now, you can’t talk stuffing without talking bread. It really is the heart and soul of a fabulous stuffing. Use the wrong bread and you can ruin it. I like fresh (not day old) French baguettes. This bread is low in salt and fat (two things you add into stuffing) and it holds up to all the liquid, so you have a terrific mouth feel. You don’t have to use baguettes, but I highly recommend it. Other good bread choices are sourdough, whole grain or a sturdy white. I don’t use day old bread because I toast fresh. I think that again, this provides a better mouth feel.
For prepping the bread you will need: five French baguettes, spray oil, 1/8 cup fresh sage, 1/4 cup fresh rosemary, 1/4 cup fresh thyme, a large mixing bowl and baking sheets. I like fresh herbs in a stuffing because they taste fresher and I find they really pop in this dish. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Now, cut the baguettes into one inch cubes and set aside. Next, finely chop all your herbs and mix together. Next, put the cubed bread in the mixing bowl and spray lightly with the oil. You just want the bread lightly coated. After all the bread is sprayed, toss in two tablespoons of your fresh herb mixture. Make sure herbs are evenly distributed on the bread. Transfer bread to the baking sheets and cook in the oven for about ten minutes, until it is just light golden brown. Remove and set aside.
Next, we move on to the vegetables. We are going to use a mirepoix to continue to build flavor in the stuffing. For this you will need: a large stockpot, one pound unsalted butter, one jumbo sweet onion, two large carrots, five stalks of celery, one tablespoon granulated garlic, two quarts homemade or low sodium chicken stock, previously chopped herb mixture and a buttered nine by eleven baking pan. You want to finely chop the carrots, celery and onion. We want these vegetables fine because we want the flavor, but we don’t want someone to bite into a large chunk of carrot as they are eating the stuffing.
Once vegetables are chopped, put the pound of butter into the stockpot and melt it over medium-low heat. Once it is completely melted, add in all the vegetables. Cook them until they are soft, stirring frequently. You don’t want any color on them; you just want them cooked through. This technique is called sweating and results in tender vegetables without caramelization. This will take about five minutes.
Once vegetables are soft, turn off the heat and add in all the toasted bread. Mix the bread with the butter and vegetables so it is evenly coated. At this point we will start adding in the chicken stock. It is VERY important not to add it all in at once. Why? Because we want the stuffing to have just the right amount of moisture; too much stock and you have a bread soup. Not enough and you have croutons. So, we add in the stock one cup at a time and stirring after every cup added. We are looking for the bread to be moist NOT wet. After you get the bread moistened, mix in the remaining chopped herbs and the teaspoon of granulated garlic. Again, mix well. Finally, salt and pepper to taste.
Finally, we bake it. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and put your stuffing into that buttered 9x11 baking pan. I like to dot the top of the stuffing with a few pats of unsalted butter. I find that it helps the top get a nice golden brown and adds a little extra richness. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 30-35 minutes. Then put the oven at 425 degrees, remove the foil and bake about eight minutes, just until the top is a nice golden brown.
That’s it!
So, now that you have a delicious stuffing, you can personalize it. Like apple cranberry stuffing? Simply cook two finely chopped Granny Smith apples in with the mirepoix and add a package of Craisins and the zest of one lemon when combining mirepoix with the bread. If mushroom and sausage is more your style, simply cook 1 1/2 pounds sliced button mushrooms in two tablespoons unsalted butter and two tablespoons canola oil. Cook over medium-high heat until they are browned, then salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with 1/8 of a teaspoon of granulated garlic. Next, cook one pound of your favorite ground sausage over medium heat in two tablespoons canola oil until brown. Make sure you drain ALL the fat off. Mix the mushrooms and the sausage into the stuffing after you have added the chicken stock.
The variations on this stuffing are endless. Now that you have the technique, you can add in all your favorite flavors. As with any technique or recipe, the most important component is the cook’s heart. The heart is what creates delicious.
Chef Ivan Flowers brings 25 years of fine cuisine experience to Top of The Market, San Diego. Prior to becoming Executive Chef at Top of The Market, Chef Flowers owned Fournos restaurant in Sedona, Arizona, named a top 25 restaurant in Arizona. He was also Executive Chef at L’Auberge de Sedona, the AAA Four-Diamond, Four Star award winning restaurant. Flowers has created extraordinary cuisine for some of the finest restaurants in Arizona, including T. Cooks at Scottsdale's Royal Palms Resort and the Phoenician's Mary Elaine's and Different Pointe of View.