As the preparing of the Thanksgiving dinner, you have ultimate power. And power, in this case, is a very good thing. You see, as the cook, you have the power to make sure that your favorite part of the meal is made the way you like it and enough of it is made that it will last long after the guests have gone home so you can enjoy it, re-heated on a sandwich, made into a croquette, or simply on a fork straight out of the leftover container with the fridge door still open. I’m talking about the Thanksgiving stuffing of course!
Now the last thing you’ll want to do is try to make the stuffing while you’re trying to do everything else. If you’ve never made Thanksgiving dinner before, you need to know that while you are cooking the meal all your guests will be in your kitchen, talking, asking questions, looking for a snack, etc… You need to focus on just one thing at that moment, and the stuffing is not that one thing. Because to me, the stuffing is the most delicious and precious part of the meal, it deserves advance attention and the good thing is… you can prep it almost entirely ahead of time. Here’s how…
There are basically three components to your stuffing - the bread, the flavorful ingredient base and some stock to moisten it. You can prepare these three components days before the Thanksgiving dinner, which leaves only putting the three components together at the end.
Hopefully you have some turkey stock leftover from when you made your gravy in advance a couple weeks ago. If not, get your hands on a good-quality turkey stock (or chicken stock). Step one is done!
Then, let’s tackle the bread cubes. Buy a loaf of bread (one that you like) several days ahead of time. Pick one that has a nice airy crumb so that it can absorb lots of liquid and flavor - Italian bread, focaccia, challah, potato bread or even sourdough. Cut it into cubes and let the cubes sit out on a baking sheet, covered with a clean kitchen towel for a few days to become stale. Stale bread cubes will absorb more liquid and therefore flavor. Step two is done!
Third step: a couple of days ahead of time, make the flavorful ingredient base for the stuffing. Think about what you’d like in your stuffing. I like to balance the flavors in my stuffing - something a little sweet, something a little tart, something crunchy for texture and something salty. I like to start with sausage or bacon because the fat helps transfer the flavor to all the other parts of the dish, making it succulent and delicious, but you can make this meatless by just starting with olive oil instead (and using vegetable stock when it comes time to moisten the stuffing). Onion, celery, garlic, sage and parsley are all pretty standard ingredients in stuffing, but I like to add some dried fruit, fresh fruit and toasted nuts too. You add whatever you want, but the trick is to do these steps of the stuffing ahead of time. Stop just before you are supposed to add the bread and refrigerate these ingredients until Thanksgiving.
On the big day, you should have all three component of the stuffing ready to go. Bring your ingredients out of the fridge and decide what covered vessel you are going to use for the stuffing. Pick a big one because we’re not joking around with this part of the meal! Re-heat the cooked ingredient base in that pan and then add your stale bread cubes. Moisten with stock and taste a spoonful for seasoning. Set the dish aside to pop into the oven when the turkey comes out. Don’t forget to remove the lid for the last 10 minutes of cooking to get some nice crispy edges.
A few tips about making your stuffing:
- Cut your bread cubes bigger than you think you need. They will shrink when they are moistened and cook so you need to compensate for that.
- While we love the bread in stuffing, the flavor is in the ingredients you add, so make sure you cook up lots of onions, celery and the rest. Also, make sure your stock that you’re using is good-quality and super tasty.
- You can stuff some of the stuffing inside your turkey if you want to, but you’ll always need more stuffing than what the cavity of a turkey will hold, so make a lot more.
- If you do stuff the turkey, remember that your turkey will take a little longer to cook, and you must make sure that the internal temperature of the stuffing is 165ºF (in addition to the turkey) before you serve it.
- Pick a good serving vessel for the stuffing. Cast iron is perfect because it will help keep your stuffing warm on a buffet table.
We’re getting much closer to Thanksgiving and now three mandatory parts of the meal are already done (or at least ready)! That must feel good, right? The next step is to discuss how you’re going to make the best turkey you have ever made. Aside from that, your mind should be free to think of a couple nice side dishes to go with all of this.
