This is actually MY stuffing in progress from last year
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Thanksgiving 19...75? May have been the most revealing ever.
Backstory: Every year that I could remember, we had two turkeys, and my mother made two kinds of stuffing.
And Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate in whatever way makes you thinkful! (I was trying to type 'thankful,' but this seems like a good typo.)
One turkey had the good kind, plain, from Pepperidge Farm, with the addition of sauteed celery and onions, which of course is the perfect stuffing. More on that in a minute.
In the other turkey was the gross yucky stuffing. It was Pepperidge Farm-based—but Mom, for some reason us kids could never comprehend, added oysters.
We DIED, even thinking about it. Fainted with disgust. As a ten-year-old, when my sister Nina was seven and Nancy was five, we would watch Mom put the oysters in the dressing and then hold our tummies in pretend agony. HOW, we wailed, could anyone eat that stuff? We were so grateful that there was the whole other turkey that had delicious plain stuffing.
So fast forward until 1975, when I was a nicely grown up twenty-something. I was back home in Indiana, in the kitchen, smelling all the Thanksgiving smells as Mom made the traditional two turkeys. She made up the big bowl of stuffing, it smelled fabulous, and then proceeded to dump the can of oysters into the big ceramic bowl.
MOM! I yelped. You put oysters in the whole thing!
Mom looked at me, like, dumb kid. “Honey,” she finally said. “You think I really made two different stuffings every year? I never did. You kids have been happily eating oyster dressing since day one.”
Well, I was shocked. Parental deceit, and at holiday time, too! But—we happily ate it again. And the oyster stuffing story is one of our holiday traditions.
(And here's how mine above at top, turned out.. and oh, it is in my copper pommes Anna pan.)
And I adore stuffing. And--big question--WHY do we only make it on Thanksgiving?
Another big question, reds and readers. Do you call it stuffing or dressing? Is there a difference? What are your whatever-you-call-it secrets?
We DIED, even thinking about it. Fainted with disgust. As a ten-year-old, when my sister Nina was seven and Nancy was five, we would watch Mom put the oysters in the dressing and then hold our tummies in pretend agony. HOW, we wailed, could anyone eat that stuff? We were so grateful that there was the whole other turkey that had delicious plain stuffing.
So fast forward until 1975, when I was a nicely grown up twenty-something. I was back home in Indiana, in the kitchen, smelling all the Thanksgiving smells as Mom made the traditional two turkeys. She made up the big bowl of stuffing, it smelled fabulous, and then proceeded to dump the can of oysters into the big ceramic bowl.
MOM! I yelped. You put oysters in the whole thing!
Mom looked at me, like, dumb kid. “Honey,” she finally said. “You think I really made two different stuffings every year? I never did. You kids have been happily eating oyster dressing since day one.”
Well, I was shocked. Parental deceit, and at holiday time, too! But—we happily ate it again. And the oyster stuffing story is one of our holiday traditions.
(And here's how mine above at top, turned out.. and oh, it is in my copper pommes Anna pan.)
And I adore stuffing. And--big question--WHY do we only make it on Thanksgiving?
Another big question, reds and readers. Do you call it stuffing or dressing? Is there a difference? What are your whatever-you-call-it secrets?
And again, let me take a moment to acknowledge the place where I live, now called Newton Massachusetts, was the home of the Massachusett tribe, for, according to some records, around 12,000 years.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone . . . .
ReplyDeleteWe call it stuffing [although I think the stuffing versus dressing question is really a name thing since whatever you call it, the recipe seems to be pretty much identical. Perhaps it’s a where you live thing?]. And, yes, I always make it, but I never eat it . . . .
You never eat it? Oh. xoxoo Happy Thanksgiving, dear one!
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving, Hank . . .
Deletestuffing is not my favorite, so I pass it up in deference to sides that I enjoy much more . . . .
I call it both dressing and stuffing, although I don't stuff the turkey anymore. Oyster dressing never did appeal and I never heard of it until the 80's or so. Mine is a Pepperidge Farm Herbed Stuffing mix base, sage sausage, stick of butter or margarine, chicken broth, chopped celery, onions, apricots, craisins, and when I can find them Italian chestnuts. Baked in a 9x13 baking dish. I do make it other times of the year, but not often enough.
ReplyDeleteIt is SO delicious. I haven ever had it with sausage, hmmm. But cannot go wrong with Pepperidge Farm herb!
Deleteis this where I mention the Gram? to win an ARC of One Wrong Word? Oh, stuffing out of the bird anytime of the year!
DeleteHank, that is so funny. Your mom was a hoot.
ReplyDeleteMy mother spent a lot of time making stuffing from scratch, in our biggest mixing bowl. Probably a loaf of torn white bread, chopped onions and celery, and an egg, all mooshed together with her hands, then shoved inside the bird, a handful at a time. Very messy. I only liked it if it had gravy on it. Her second husband loved oyster dressing, so that was added to the holiday menu during their 20 years together. Her third husband wasn't a fan, so presto, it vanished from the table.
My kids love Stovetop Stuffing, made on the stove, and if we are with them it's a must. But neither Steve nor I care about it. I quit stuffing poultry years ago because I think it dries the meat out.
And happy Thanksgiving to you all. 🦃
DeleteAnd to you, dear Karen! Was the white bread stale or not? That would be kind of a different texture..
DeleteI'm pretty sure it was stale. And the veggies were sauteed in butter. Yes, the texture was more like bread pudding.
DeleteWe went to a friend's house once for Thanksgiving, and they toasted three loaves of bread to make stuffing! It took them hours, four pieces at a time.
Just saw your post on Facebook, ahem.
Karen, bread pudding texture--yes, exactly. See below, my brother-in-law was appalled--only wanted a dry version not cooked in the bird.
DeleteHmmm. I make cornbread dressing like Grandma did, from scratch. I bake it in its own dish. Mom made a Pepperidge Farm-like stuffing from scratch which she stuffed into the turkey. She may have put the overflow into its own dish to bake. To me bread is stuffing and cornbread is dressing. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Pat D
ReplyDeleteOh, cornbread is dressing? Yes, the overflow idea truly works!
DeleteMy Mom had on regular rotation a recipe she called "Chicken 'N Stuffing". So delicious, especially in cold months, and when we went to a potluck or church supper, she often made it. It was so simple (more so after boneless skinless chicken breasts became available). A quantity of cooked white meat chicken (or turkey), a can of good cream of mushroom soup, a canned of mushrooms, a small container of sour cream. Pepperidge farm stuffing made up with chicken broth according to package directions was placed on top and the whole thing baked at 375 for about 30 or 40 minutes until bubbling around the edges. You might feel guilty about the sour cream and all those carbs, but as an occasional treat . . .
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, this is youngest nephew's absolute favorite casserole. It's in rotation here for meals :-)
DeleteThat sounds GREAT! WOW. That is so doable!
DeleteThat is such a delightful story! I loved it!
ReplyDeleteIn my pre-vegetarian days when I still ate turkey, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my godfamily for years, a meal that finally evolved into a sort of pot luck, since the "family" kept expanding. The core of the dinner was traditional turkey, sweet potaoes, cranberry sauce and (stuffing or dressing? I've called it both, probably because my own family moved around so much when I was growing up.) Then the rest of us would bring other things. (In our case vegetable curry, samosas, and rice pilaff.)
Even though we have moved to Portugal, I still love the holiday and all the memories, although we go out to lunch these days.
Have a wonderful day! xx
DeleteSo funny! Definitely a mom thing, not to short order cook.
ReplyDeleteI still make my mom's bread stuffing, which will commence soon. She stuffed it in the turkey - I no longer do that. Sautee an onion, chopped celery, and chopped walnuts in the big cast iron skillet in lots of butter, add a loaf of torn up stale bread (this year it's sourdough), season with rosemary, parsley, and sage (Mommy used a tin of poultry seasoning), and mix. The celery tops go into a stock pot with water and the turkey neck and other inside bits, and I moisten the stuffing in a casserole dish with that stock, then bake it either during or after the turkey comes out. I LOVE it.
My pies are baked and the whole-berry cranberry sauce is made. We'll spatchcock and herb rub the turkey soon, then I'll make stuffing and get the potatoes ready to mash, with people coming at one! Happy Thanksgiving to all.
As someone who Splatchcocked the turkey earlier, I STRONGLY suggest you keep the cat out of the kitchen while the butchering is being done.
DeleteSpatchcocking--a whole nother blog! YOur mother's dressing sounds fabulous--and I bet it all smells so good...
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving to all!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up it was called stuffing because it was stuffed in the turkey cavity. Then I went to a friend's house and they called it dressing because it surrounded the cooked turkey on the plate. Now, it doesn't make a difference because I don't like stuffing or dressing.
OHHHHHH is THAT why? That makes perfect sense. I just never thought about it that way...
DeleteI was also born and raised in MA. Remember buying the loaves of stuffing bread in the store and then tearing them into small pieces and adding melted butter and Bell's Seasoning and chopped veggies. I still make my Mom's recipe as I know it by heart. Every year I volunteered to help her make the stuffing while Dad chopped the onions and celery. I miss those days so much. I'll make the Pepperidge Farm sometimes during the year when we are having a roast chicken for a side dish.
ReplyDeleteThanksgiving cooking is such a memory-filled time, isn't it?
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving! I've always called it stuffing. But, hey, if you want to call it dressing, that's fine. A rose by any other name, etc. Just hold the oysters, please!
ReplyDeleteWith you on the oysters...but take it from me, after years of being duped, you won't notice. It just sounds awful, I so agree!
DeleteI grew up calling it stuffing because it was stuffed in the turkey, or sometimes in the chicken. As an adult, I have made it several different ways and it is always one of the things that gets gobbled up. It was wonderful when family members began to make extra in a separate dish because if it was only inside the turkey, there wasn't enough.
ReplyDeleteHank, I love that story!
Happy Thanksgiving! May you all have much to be thankful for!
And to you, dearest one! xxx
DeleteHANK: HA HA, (oyster) stuffing scandal, indeed!
ReplyDeleteWe called it stuffing in our family. Making Thanksgiving (and Christmas) turkey with stuffing was a new dish my mom had to learn how to cook after immigrating to Toronto from Osaka, Japan in the 1960s. I have her How to cook turkey & sausage-bread stuffing pamphlet in my recipe collection. I usually make it, with a few modifications.
Saute a tube of Maple Leaf pork sausage in a skillet with onions, celery & lots of butter. Add a loaf of stale, cubed white bread. My mom used a jar of poultry seasoning (opened twice a year) but I now use a combo of ground sage, marjoram and fresh parsley to season the stuffing. And stuff it into the turkey cavities to cook, not in a separate dish.
Happy Thanksgiving to the REDS and those who celebrate.
Awww...I love that tradition and that story! This year I am cooking it outside the turkey only..we shall see. I'm a big inside person, but we decided to try it another way....
DeleteShalom Reds and readers,
ReplyDelete----------It is my experience that when you’re hungry, almost anything edible is eaten with gratitude. My mother did not keep a kosher kitchen; so, I remember eating spaghetti with clam sauce and shrimp salad, both of which I loved. As an adult, I’ve had and love scallops. Other shellfish and crustaceans not so much.
----------At the Thanksgiving table, we always had “stuffing” and it was cooked in the bird. Celery and onions, perhaps. But certainly nothing weird like oysters. Today, there are very few things that I won’t eat. I am “in recovery”, so I try to avoid stuff cooked with wine or alcohol.
-----------As a youngster and young man, I could go for seconds and even thirds. Now with age, I just take a modest plate of food, finish it and am done. I like food, but I more enjoy the chatter and banter at the dining room table.
----------Happy Thanksgiving everyone. ds
Stufffing inside, dressing outside. Make SO much sense!
DeleteThe oyster stuffing story is great, Hank--mothers can be so clever, can't they?
ReplyDeleteI'm almost sure my mother said "turkey and dressing," but today I say "turkey and stuffing"--not sure how that happened. In any case, I still make what she made, which is based on a pan of homemade cornbread baked the evening before. My cornbread stuffing has experienced additions over the years--never oysters, but sometimes apples, sometimes chestnuts, sometimes mushrooms, and probably a few other long-forgotten additions inspired by exposure to new recipes. But always crumbled cornbread mixed with sautéed onions and celery, moistened with broth, seasoned with rosemary, and baked in the turkey. And pecan pie for dessert. My father was from Monroe, Louisiana, so cornbread and pecans were his nectar and ambrosia. Now when I eat them, I think of him.
Awww...and that is exactly part of the Thanksgiving legacy!
DeleteI always thought "stuffing" was if you cooked it IN the bird and dressing was if you baked it in its own dish outside the bird. But maybe its a regionalism. Hank, I love that your mother hid the oysters. BUT why did she make two birds? I love the smell of a house in which a turkey is roasting.
ReplyDeleteTwo birds to feed the family. That was before they started giving growth hormones to farm animals. A 16-pound bird would have been considered enormous then, I think.
DeleteYes, two birds so there was enough. And so agree, our house smells like that right now! OH, Hallie, you and my mom--I wish you could have met her. xx
DeleteKaren, a cater friend of Mother said two birds cooked faster and more evenly than one big one. Elisabeth
DeleteThat, too, Elisabeth! However, there is more meat on one 20# turkey than on two 10# turkeys. I learned that at some cooking class years ago.
DeleteHank, I"m seriously impressed by your mother's deviousness!. Around here, it is stuffing...and it took pressure from the grown daughters to get my husband to stop actually cooking it in the turkey. So. A few years married, we hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner, and - stressed - I took a short cut. I used a bag of Pepperidge Farm! And it was so delicious we've been using it ever since ( My whole family would faint if I did anything else.) Hooray for those family traditions and wishing a happy day to all
ReplyDeleteYes, so agree..Pepperidge Farm is perfection. Do you suppose it really is, or it's just what we're used to?
DeleteInteresting comments and a great story, hank! To me, the big difference has always been between cornbread stuffing and white bread stuffing. Is the cornbread more of a southern thing? In any case, never learned how to make a good cornbread stuffing and really wish I knew how.
ReplyDeleteI am thankful for all of YOU, my friends. Today and every day!
Aww..and we are to you! But cornbread..I think it's southern, but I am guessing.
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving Reds! I am grateful for each one of you! xo
ReplyDeleteMe too! Diana
DeleteMe, too! xx
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving to all the people enjoying it today. In honour of your day, I will cook a chicken for the 2 of us, and today I will add some dressing. It was always called dressing; I don’t know why. I have never knowingly eaten the Pepperidge Farm stuff. I did eat the tastiest dressing at a church/village supper in the ‘80’s when everything was not guarded by Health and Safety, and the turkeys were cooked in someone’s oven and brought to the supper. Yes, you were just given a turkey and asked to cook it to your recipe, and then drag all to the meal – oh, and you had to make a pie or two as well – your choice.. It was cooked inside the bird, and actually looked grey, but oh the flavour! I have been trying to replicate it ever since with any recipe I can find, including various sausage varieties, different fruits, egg/no egg, broth or not, but not including oysters. I now understand they come from a can, as I was thinking they were fresh, and could not understand why you did not just slurp them down and enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteToday’s dressing (very small bit) will just be butter, onions, celery, white bread, and maybe a bit more butter – and inside the bird. There will be brussels sprout – no beans!
Hot sandwiches tomorrow!
Yes, so interesting...we are having brussels not beans, too. I still BOUGHT the green beans, though, so we will do something with them over the weekend... And yes, it's a big day for butter!
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you all, my American friends !
ReplyDeleteDanielle
And to you!
DeleteI call it dressing. I buy the bag of herb seasoned cubes. I bake it in a pan. We like it crispy. Growing up we went over the river and through the woods to both grandmothers’ houses and ate two dinners. I have no idea how they made it; I think it was stuffed in the bird, but all I remember is me being stuffed.
ReplyDeleteHA! I am going to try to avoid that this year...xoxo
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving to all! Such a funny story. We used both words, stuffing and dressing to refer to the delicious side dish. No oysters though.
ReplyDeleteANd to you! xxx
DeleteStuffing. Pepp Farm herbal mix with celery, onion, parsley, and mild sausage. I use the stuffing mix all winter for baked stuffed pork chops with chopped apples and walnuts. Happy Thanksgiving to All!
ReplyDeleteOh, pork chops later! Brilliant!
DeleteOysters! LOL. I saw recipes with Oysters in the Sunday papers. I guess they are popular?
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving! Some people call it Friendsgiving.
Growing up, it has always been called Stuffing. Yesterday we baked the stuffing in the oven. We used pieces from Gluten Free Bread (this is the most delicious GF bread I ever had) with all the usual spices associated with Thanksgiving - rosemary, sage and thyme.
If I may ask, does the Maschusett tribe still exist or do they still have descendants living in Newton?
Diana
Yes, definitely! The Massachusett still exist, and have descendants throughout the state that took their name!
DeleteI love your mother!! What a great story. I never heard anyone calling it dressing until I went to college in New Orleans. As to why we don’t make my favorite side dish more often, if we did, I’d look like a Butterball myself.
ReplyDeleteYes, my mom was a hoot. Yes, it is a fully-loaded-with-calories side dish, that's for sure!
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving, everyone! We called it stuffing growing up, used the Pepperidge Farm bagged mix, added celery and onions sauteed in butter, stuffed in the bird until my brother-in-law came along. Then did both, some in the bird, some baked separately. Hank, your scandal is outrageous! How dare your mother trick her kids! :-)
ReplyDeleteMoms, right? They know best....xxx
DeleteOh Moms, what we continue to learn from them. Oysters in Indiana? Thank heaven for canning. I am beginning to think that on Nome Street and Thanksgiving fare, we are in it for the bread. Currently for 2 people there are 6 pounds of dried bread/cornbread waiting to be used. Hence bread pudding for breakfast. // 5 cups dried bread, egg custard made with 1.5 C milk and .5 C eggnog, 2 T melted butter, 1/3 C brown sugar, 3 eggs, 1 handful raisins, 2 handfuls dried cranberries, Standard directions for making a bread pudding (I used Mark Bitman's) after the pudding comes from the oven drizzle another 2 T butter combined with your favorite sweet spice. I used allspice and cinnamon.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate today, the rest of us A very Happy Thursday. Grateful for all of you.
Mom liked warm bread pudding drizzled with eggnog for breakfast on Christmas morning, Coralee. I still make it but usually as a potluck item for morning staff meetings, usually in December but this year it was just last week. My tweak on mom's recipe is to used a combination of cinnamon raisin bread and a nice egg bread.
DeleteOh, bread pudding is SO ambrosial!
DeleteI saw your post on Facebook about the stuffing scandal, and I was so excited to read about it. We call it stuffing, and I have never had it with oysters in it, because we use sausage. I took over the making stuffing duties from my mom years ago, and it’s my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal
ReplyDeleteI love it, too! xxooo ANd yay for seeing it on facebook! xx
DeleteSorry, when I posted saying I saw this post on Facebook, for some reason it didn’t let me login
ReplyDeleteSO cranky...xoxoo
DeleteSome of us like corn bread stuffing so I made two types, bread for most and cornbread stuffing for Gluten free family. In Maryland, oyster stuffing is popular. I loved it once, but it's terrible the next day. I agree it would be better to slurp the raw oysters for an appetizer!
ReplyDeleteOh, right, it does not keep, that's for sure! Yikes...
DeleteSaw the title in your Facebook post so I was really curious- and what a great story! Such a parent move to quietly let you eat it all those years.
ReplyDeleteI know technically it's stuffing when it's in the turkey, dressing when it's outside, but we use them interchangeably (though I think we lean more toward saying dressing, and most do serve it on the side rather than in the bird). Some years we make it, some we don't, and honestly I can take it or leave it.
Yes, SUCH a parent move! I keep imagining what she was thinking, as we assiduously avoided the oysters..
DeleteI make a cornbread stuffing with caramelized onions, sage and heavy cream. I grew up with the kind that had the gizzards and celery but always thought it was mushy and gross. I enjoyed your stuffing story. Parents can be tricky to get kids to eat.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the link on Facebook through the First Chapter Fun page. Now back to prepping for our dinner. Busy day. I also have to run a couple meals to family an hour away that can’t travel.
Safe travels, and have fun! xxx
DeleteI do make a chicken and stuffing dinner using a crockpot pot other times of the year. The difference is the stuffing is Stove Top vs when I make the cornbread ahead of Thanksgiving to make my stuffing.
DeleteHave a wonderful day!
I just saw your post on Facebook, Hank. Someone is going to have an even happier Thanksgiving!!
ReplyDeleteHA! I hope so...xoxoo
DeleteI just saw this again on Instagram and now I’m ready for stuffing
ReplyDeleteYes, I cannot wait! xxx
DeleteOh my! You have a loving yet hilarious mother! Love this scandal , ha, ha! I didn't grow up with Thanksgiving or stuffing until I married my husband! So, I call it stuffing. However, I grew up with oyster omelets (with some Cchilli sauce)..that's one of the famous food at my hometown! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am grateful for all the authors and publishers who provide me with so many good reads!
ReplyDeleteSO great to see you here! ANd yes, she was pretty funny. oxxooo
DeleteWe only make dressing or stuffing on celebrated holidays for the same reason we only serve Turkey once or twice a year - traditions. Growing up would I have loved to eat turkey & dressing more often? Absolutely ! I asked my children that same question only once, when they were teenagers. They simultaneously & adamantly said NO. I was shocked because they love turkey & dressing but to them it’s a sacred tradition they didn’t want to break. . *I followed the link on your Instagram acct to access this blog
ReplyDeleteYAY! Make sure you tell me your name..xoxo
DeleteWe call it dressing, it's cornbread based, and it's cooked in a 9 x 13 dish, not in the turkey. And it's my favorite thing about Thanksgiving ❤️
ReplyDeleteYes, SO yummy!
DeleteI don't think I've ever had oyster stuffing. My mom made the box kind, hubby makes his own from scratch. Cubed and toasted bread, giblets, onions, celery and fresh sage and stock. Some goes under the turkey breast to roast. Other parts of confit. The rest of the dressing is baked in a dish.
ReplyDeleteYes, mom's do have secrets, necessary to calm silly kiddos. Thanks for sharing this story on "Facebook." LOL
That was such a moment when I learned the truth! Ha!
DeleteI saw this interesting article about stuffing scandal on Facebook on I thought I will read and find out!
ReplyDeleteHank, your mom is so loving and hilarious, and this is a precious memories!
As long as I know, I call it stuffing! This year, hubby is trying some new stuffing recipe - it's actually Bobby Flay's recipe!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone !
Let us know how it turns out! xxx
DeleteFacebook
ReplyDeleteMy mother used to make the best stuffing. She would make extra for me to take home. After she passed, my sister continued making it. This year for the first time, I made it to bring to friends. I’m hoping it’s good and hopefully edible
I'm sure it will be delicious! That's the tradition, so it will happen. oxxo
DeleteI am a vegetarian so don’t know what to call it. Have heard stuffing always from my friends who make it. Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the turkey 🦃 🥧😊
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you, too! SO lovely to see you here!
DeleteI love your story! My mom and aunt used to put the turkey giblets in all of the stuffing and tell us it wasn't in our serving. aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com
ReplyDeleteHA! That is hilarious--did you believe it?
DeleteHi Hank! Happy Thanksgiving! This is Jenni Wiethe Cornell. Lol Set up Google with possible author name. Our family had a wet vs. dry stuffing debate. I like dry. Guess I'll go post about it on Facebook! Lol
ReplyDeleteHi Jenni! SO great to see you here.. xoxooo .yes, I like dry, too. I guess..hmmm.
DeleteThanks for directing me here from Facebook. My mom, who taught cooking in her Home Economics classes, would make plain stuffing and oyster dressing and talk about them that way. I remember that the word stuffing was reserved for what got stuffed in the turkey. The word dressing was something else to dress up the meal. (When we discovered Mom was allergic to seafood so much that she shouldn't even cook it, that ended the two-stuffing era in favor of the plain kind and made seafood mean "restaurant food.") I've been making stuffing in recent weeks in place of mashed potatoes -- but with no oysters.
ReplyDeleteThat reasoning makes SO much sense--I can't believe I had no idea!
DeleteJust saw your post on Facebook and figured I would chime in! Growing up we always called it stuffing. Then when I was older and at a friends house for Thanksgiving I asked someone to pass the stuffing to me. They looked at me like I had six heads. That’s when I learned it can also be referred to as dressing. I though maybe stuffing was a Massachusetts term.
ReplyDeleteOh, what a funny moment! As we are hearing--it seems to have no geographical element--just a family tradition!
DeleteDad's mom made oyster dressing. Mom's family liked plain bread stuffing. My aunt was given a recipe for a stuffing with mushrooms and walnuts. One year grandma Dale started to use cornbread and only corn bread in the oyster dressing.
ReplyDeleteMom' would make bowl of plain dressing, which is same as the stuffing, divide it and add oysters to the smaller batch. Her family never touched oyster dressing when mom hosted dinner. Never that is until until Marcia married Chris. He likes the oyster dressing and raw cranberry orange relish. All of a sudden the oyster was disappearing before the plain. Both were cooked in casserole dishes. I never saw mom, not have I ever stuffed a turkey.
The mushrooms walnut stuffing is still made by aunt, though a different aunt makes it. I can't touch because I'm allergic to walnuts and the mushrooms are just too mushy, blaa.
The real scandal was when the family caught mom making instant mashed potatoes. They taste just fine, especially if you add extra butter while whipping up that huge pot of yum.
Have a lovely, peaceful day to you all.
The great mashed potato scandal! I LOVE that!
DeleteMy mom made the in-the-turkey kind of stuffing and, I’m sure, used the giblets because there was always something foreign I’d bite down on. I don’t know what went into it. I made a sage version I found in a recipe cut from the newspaper back in the 80s. My father-in-law loved it and made it every time he made the turkey. This year our new daughter-in-law is making the cornbread from scratch dressing. Though maybe it’s stuffing?
ReplyDeleteI’m thankful for the Jungle Reds community and wish you all a joyful day. — Pat S
Awwww..and to you, too, dear Pat!
DeleteAlthough I love raw oysters, I've never knowingly had oyster stuffing. Then again, my mother fed me rabbit for years telling me it was chicken. Mothers - they're a sly batch!
ReplyDeleteWe call it dressing if it's out of the bird and stuffing if it's in. My favorite is cornbread, made from scratch. It's the dressing we're having today.
Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!
She DID?? Whoa. That's a real mom move....and a terrific story!
DeleteI love stuffing! I don’t think that I’ve ever heard of Oysters in it! The last few years, we’ve been making it in a crock pot. Comes out moist and yummy! I’m glad that you and your sisters liked it! I’m looking forward to seeing people’s Thanksgiving food pictures on Facebook!
ReplyDeleteYes, me, too! I a crock pot? That seems like a great idea...
DeleteYep! We sautée mushrooms, onions and celery. Mix it with the stuffing and put it in the crockpot. Yum! Recipe from Sixsistersstuff .
DeleteI’m so glad you mentioned this on INSTAGRAM, Hank! That sounds like something my mom would do! LOL I loved my mom’s turkey stuffing - it had sausage and apples in it! Yum!
ReplyDeleteHi, Rosemary! ooh, apples. Brilliant!
DeleteLoved this story, Hank! It is, and has always been, dressing in our family, made with a mixture of homemade cornbread and good country bread, butter, sage, celery, onion, chicken stock. We've never put it in the turkey, and when I was growing up there were always two batches, one with oysters and one without. I grew to love the oyster version, but there's no one else left who likes it, so we don't make it anymore.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you all! I'm grateful for the wonderful community every day!
Love you madly, dear Debs!
DeleteNot much to weigh in on; others have mentioned that stuffing is what is stuffed in the bird; I wonder if oysters is a New England thing, I’ve seen it done but never tried it; and as for recipes, much like the pumpkin pie recipe on the can of Libby’s, we use Pepperidge Farms box/bag and their recipe and there’s never been a complaint (except when it’s gone—haha). Now that there’s less of us; the bird and dressing cook faster separately. And here’s to Facebook for bring me here ;)
ReplyDelete— Andy
DeleteSO great to see you here, ANdy! xx
DeleteDo names fill in later??
ReplyDeleteThey don't! Blogger is being persnickety--so must leave your first name and last initial in a comment!
DeleteI love this story so much, because it's pretty much a story of life, right? The assumptions we make and how so very strongly they inform our actions, opinions, and everything we do. (I happen to adore oysters--and stuffing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving--so now I'm totally salivating, even though it's not yet 8:00am here in Hilo, Hawai'i.)
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you, all the Reds, and all the fabulous readers out there!
Happy Hawaiian Thanksgiving, dear Leslie! xxx
DeleteI was raised with 'dressing' and mom made her oyster dressing from scratch and baked in a dish. I didn't appreciate the taste until an adult. Now I have fixed annually for years. A great post. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Don't forget to leave your name! xx And yes, it can be an acquired taste...MAYBE. :-)
DeleteI think cornbread dressing is a southern thing. I will be 81 next week and have lived my entire life in Texas. I make a fabulous cornbread dressing that I have adapted over the years from how my grandma used to make it. First, you need a package of Morrison's Texas Style cornbread mix. No other brand will do! Bake it in a 7" cast iron skillet that is well-greased with a tsp of bacon drippings. When cool, crumble it in a large bowl. Tear up 3 pieces of whole wheat bread (heels if you have them) & process into crumbs. Saute 3/4 cup of chopped yellow onion, 3 green onions w/ tops, 1 cup chopped celery, & 1/4 cup of parsley in 1/2 stick real butter. Stir 2 cans of chicken broth into bowl with breads. Add 1/2 tsp salt & 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1 egg slightly beaten, and veggies. Mix well but gently. Spray 12 x 7 glass baking dish w/ Pam. Pour in dressing & bake in 325 oven for 45-50 minutes. It will look watery, but bakes up into a moist, tender deliciousness. Just took mine out of the oven a few minutes ago.
ReplyDeleteWOW. That sounds amazing! Thank you!
DeleteI just finished the simple white bread stuffing my mother always made - sauteed celery and onion, melted butter and sage, topped off with broth. There are fancier stuffings, but you can't find better.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving, all!
DEELISH! xxx
DeleteThey settled the stuffing/dressing conundrum years ago on The West Wing. The Butterball Hotline said stuffing in the bird, dressing is cooked outside the bird, lol.
ReplyDeletePam Purtle
Hank here: oh, that’s fantastic! Love that show! Hilarious
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving, Hank. This reminded me of a funny incident from a Thanksgiving many years ago. My wife had always made traditional stuffing (that is what we always called it) and each year one of our regular guest friends would reminisce about the oyster stuffing his mother would make at Thanksgiving. So one year my wife bit the oyster bullet, so to say, and made oyster stuffing just on account of him. His reaction was that it was okay but not quite as good as his mother's, to which his horrified wife remarked, your mother's stuffing was horrible. No more oyster stuffing after that. P..S., my wife is in total agreement with you on the cranberry thing, even though that seems to be a minority view.
ReplyDeleteHank here: that is an absolutely wonderful story! I can so imagine that conversation… Yikes!
DeleteThanks for the Facebook reminder to come to JRW. Now chuckling at sneaky moms. There are cookbooks on how to add pureed veggies to trick picky kids. ;-) Mine took a different tack, telling us "I'm not a short order cook. Eat what I serve or go hungry," and then quietly putting aside servings before adding whatever someone hated. She told me, late in her life, that she'd excused me from lima beans because then there'd be some left over for her lunch the next day. ;-)
ReplyDelete-- Storyteller Mary
My mother said "I'm not a short order cook" every day! SO silly..and when I was a kid, I had no idea what that meant...
DeleteWe called it stuffing, and one favorite non-turkey version was layered in a sliced pork roast, with pineapple. I got the recipe by writing to Dole after seeing it featured in an ad.
ReplyDelete--Storyteller Mary
I switched from plain Pepperidge Farm to corn bread when I lived on Kodiak Island in 1970s.. The commissary only had cornbread, so corn bread it was and has been, even when the next Thanksgiving the commissary had the plain. Thanksgiving blessing all of you. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteAnd to you! xx
DeleteI normally call it stuffing and it is one of my favorite things. But I use dressing when talking about my dad’s oyster dressing. He always ate it all himself, so I don’t know whether I liked it or not.
ReplyDeleteFamilies! Got to love it..xoxo
DeleteI’ve always called it stuffing, and I always will!
ReplyDeleteHank, do you make yours with oysters?
DebRo
HA! Never! Travesty. And as someone above said, the leftovers are disgusting... :-)
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving, Hank. Saw your headline on Facebook and had to click over. I laughed when I read it...that was totally a mom thing to do! My favorite stuffing recipe is my great-grandmother's recipe. Stale white bread, crushed Milk Crackers, sauteed onions, celery, and ground pork using a stick of butter, boiling water, and Bell's Seasoning...enough until the stuffings smells like church incense (that's the running joke anyway), then there's enough. Soft stuffing gets cooked with the turkey and the rest goes into a baking dish for "dry stuffing."
ReplyDeleteOver the years it's become harder to find milk crackers but I found some this year and was excited to make her stuffing for the first time in many years but, sadly, Covid became an early and uninvited guest so Thanksgiving is postponed.
Aww.. I am so sorry. But it's Thanksgiving when you say it is!
DeleteHank here: I am reading all of your wonderful comments, but the software will not let me post as myself anymore… I think it has decided I am a bot. But I am reading them all! You are all fabulous. I will try again later. Xxxxx
ReplyDeleteYes, there is a difference. DRESSING is baked in the oven, not nearly as good as STUFFING which is stuffed, baked in the turkey 😉 Kathleen Bylsma wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteThat is a perfect explanation! xxxx ANd so lovely to see you here!
DeleteWe mostly called it dressing, it was never stuffed, baked in a side dish. And my Grandmother made it with turkey “gizzards,” all the stuff inside a turkey that most people toss. We come from German stick and never throw away anything, especially food. It wasn’t bad with everything else in it, especially the drippings from the roasting turkey. - Nancy Ash
ReplyDeleteGizzards. A whole nother blog. I just close my eyes and toss them. I know it's awful...and Nancy, I know you know your stuff! SO great to see you here!
DeleteThat’s such a cute story, your mom sounds awesome!
ReplyDeleteWe call it stuffing and we eat it more often than just Thanksgiving. I just saw that Red Lobster released a recipe using their Cheddar Bay Biscuits and I definitely can’t wait until next Thanksgiving to try it!
Happy Thanksgiving!
She was awesome! Often. Next Thanksgiving you will have to tell us all about the Cheddar Bay Stuffing!
DeleteSuch a funny story! We call ours stuffing and I wish we had it more than once a year. Favorite is in turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce. We have a relative who always says she makes the best stuffing. No one know how to tell her that it’s not good.
ReplyDeleteGot here thru Facebook, and the thick oyster stuffing. Always had onions, celery, and giblets, and a good sense of humor to help the over cooked turkey. Better over than undercooked.
ReplyDeleteHi Hank! Sharon Bishop here. Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you! Stuffing or Dressing…. is one of them really ONE WRONG WORD? (Ok I tried. 🤭). My Mom always made Polish stuffing which is what her Mom always made. It’s simply frying chopped up giblets (heart & liver) with onion, add ground pork, hamburg & mashed potatoes. I love this stuffing except I used to beg her to leave out the giblets (yuk!). If she wouldn’t leave them out then I would pick them out. This stuffing is awesome the next day. Shape into a pattie & fry in butter. Yummy! Now we go the easier route & use the boxed stuffing with the fried up onions & celery. Why eat stuffing once a year? I will make it with a chicken meal from time to time. Mix things up a bit. 😊
ReplyDeleteGot here thru Facebook, 1st post anonymous, oops! Always stuffing. With celery, onions & giblets, and a sense of humor. Funny story, thanks.
ReplyDeleteAlways called it stuffing, even though it was never stuffed inside the turkey. I make my mom's recipe which uses ground beef. Came here from Facebook - Linda F
ReplyDeleteParents! BLOG
ReplyDeleteStill. No. Oysters. BLOG
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it stuffing is inside, dressing is a side. Though I make dressing,I use both terms. I use sage sausage,Arnold’s CUBED cornbread stuffing, sautéed celery, onion and red bell pepper (not fond of green peppers) and chicken or vegetable broth.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, we always called it stuffing, as it was ‘stuffed’ in the turkey (with a bowl on the side 🤷♀️). I don’t like either stuffing or dressing, no matter how it’s made or what it’s called, lol 😂
ReplyDeleteHope y’all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Hank! I’m grateful to you, for all the fun you inject in our lives! ~Janet B