Share a Thanksgiving recipe!

[koshergrl]

Yeah I didn't skip it by choice hahaha. But seriously, I was amazed at how little I missed it! Of course I had marjoram, onion, and HOMEMADE chicken stock (and celery) to flavor it up.

Plus it was sourdough. It's been almost a year and I'm still raving about it. It was that good, lol.

 

[ChrisL]

Yeah I didn't skip it by choice hahaha. But seriously, I was amazed at how little I missed it! Of course I had marjoram, onion, and HOMEMADE chicken stock (and celery) to flavor it up.

Plus it was sourdough. It's been almost a year and I'm still raving about it. It was that good, lol.

You should post the recipe if you can find it!

 

[Rotagilla]

Oyster Dressing

This is a southern thing..mostly gulf coast..especially New Orleans


This recipe is from the late Frank Davis. It is a great dish for the holidays. Oyster dressing is a great addition to any Christmas or Thanksgiving menu.

1 stick unsalted Butter

1 whole Egg (lightly beaten)

1/2 cup finely chopped Smoked Sausage

2 cups finely chopped Onions

2/3 cup finely chopped Celery

1/2 cup finely chopped Bell Pepper

6 cloves minced Garlic

1/2 cup thinly sliced Green Onion Tops

1/4 cup finely chopped Parsley

4 cups fresh Bread Chunks

1 cup Buttered Cracker Crumbs

6 dozen chopped Oysters, plus liquid

1 tsp. Frank Davis Poultry Seasoning

1 tsp. Basil

1 tsp. Frank Davis Seafood Seasoning

1 tsp. Black Pepper

1 1/2 tsp. Salt

1 cup Turkey Pan Drippings


In a large black cast iron Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the smoked sausage, onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, and green onion tops until all of them are tender. The one thing you want to remember is to keep the butter hot, but don’t let it burn (and don’t let the garlic burn either or it will turn bitter). I also suggest that you keep stirring the mixture to cook it uniformly.



Next, stir in the parsley. Then gradually stir in the chopped oysters, the oyster liquor, and the turkey pan drippings. Notice I said to “gradually stir in”. The reason for this is that you do not want to reduce the heat–lowering the cooking temperature will cause excessive water to be released from the oysters and you’ll have to add too much bread to the finished dish.

Now cook the oysters gently over medium high heat for about 4 minutes, stirring all the while. And when all the ingredients are well mixed, drop in the poultry seasoning, basil, thyme, seafood seasoning, black pepper, and salt. About the salt–taste your raw oysters to see if they are naturally salty before adding the prescribed amount. You may have to reduce additional salt if nature has provided her own.

At this point, cover the pot, lower the heat, and simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes to allow time for the flavors to marry. This is one of the secrets to making a really good oyster dressing. Don’t rush or skip this step!

After the simmering process is done, remove the pot from the fire and begin adding the bread chunks a few at a time. Note that you do not have to add all four cups. If you want your dressing moist, stop adding bread when you get to the texture you desire. If you want a drier stuffing, add all four cups, even a little more if your taste and needs dictate. Now taste the dressing again and make your final seasoning adjustments. The objective is to get the bread to absorb all the pan liquor, thereby binding everything together.

When, in your estimation, the dressing is ready (it shouldn’t be soupy, but it shouldn’t be dry either), allow it to cool slightly. Then rapidly stir in the raw egg to tie everything together and cover it for a few minutes to let it “set up”. This is where the richness comes in – it’s how the final blending brings out full flavor. Oh, and if by chance you’ve miscalculated and made the mixture a bit too dry, just pour in a little extra turkey drippings.

The only thing left to do is to transfer the dressing right from the Dutch oven to a buttered casserole dish, generously sprinkle the top with the buttered cracker crumbs, drizzle on a little extra melted butter, and bake it for about 25 minutes uncovered in a 375 degree oven.



Chef’s Hints

For the best tasting oyster dressing you can get, either shuck your own oysters or have someone shuck them for you. That way, you get them unwashed and the oysters and their liquor retain all of the natural salt. Of course, prepackaged washing oysters will do if fresh-shucked are not available.

Fresh bread chunks are better than dried crumbs in your oyster dressing because they tend to cook up fluffy rather than pasty. So to make fresh bread chunks, just take fresh sliced bread or French bread and pull apart small bite-side pieces.

To make your buttered cracker crumb topping, simply drop regular saltine crackers into the processor and, while the blades are spinning, pour in a couple of tablespoons of melted butter.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

My most important recipe is a hunt until noon before stuffing myself

 

[Camp]

The trick to stuffing is to boil all the herbs, spices, onion, celery, etc.the day before and let them set in the liquid over night before adding them to the stuffing. But everyone knows that.

 

[koshergrl]

Yeah I didn't skip it by choice hahaha. But seriously, I was amazed at how little I missed it! Of course I had marjoram, onion, and HOMEMADE chicken stock (and celery) to flavor it up.

Plus it was sourdough. It's been almost a year and I'm still raving about it. It was that good, lol.

You should post the recipe if you can find it!

I didn't use a recipe. I chopped up some old sourdough I had, toasted it a bit, seasoned it with salt/pepper/marjoram....put it in a casserole. Sauteed onions and celery in butter, seasoned those with salt/pepper/marjoram, threw that in there, then soaked it with homemade chicken stock from my pantry (quite a bit). Baked it. It puffed up beautifully and it tasted like it was cooked in the bird.

 

[ChrisL]

Yeah I didn't skip it by choice hahaha. But seriously, I was amazed at how little I missed it! Of course I had marjoram, onion, and HOMEMADE chicken stock (and celery) to flavor it up.

Plus it was sourdough. It's been almost a year and I'm still raving about it. It was that good, lol.

You should post the recipe if you can find it!

I didn't use a recipe. I chopped up some old sourdough I had, toasted it a bit, seasoned it with salt/pepper/marjoram....put it in a casserole. Sauteed onions and celery in butter, seasoned those with salt/pepper/marjoram, threw that in there, then soaked it with homemade chicken stock from my pantry (quite a bit). Baked it. It puffed up beautifully and it tasted like it was cooked in the bird.

There are some sour dough stuffing recipes online too that sound delicious. Some with apples and raisins in them.

 

[ChrisL]

The trick to stuffing is to boil all the herbs, spices, onion, celery, etc.the day before and let them set in the liquid over night before adding them to the stuffing. But everyone knows that.

I've never done that. Where do you keep it? In the fridge?

 

[koshergrl]

Yeah I didn't skip it by choice hahaha. But seriously, I was amazed at how little I missed it! Of course I had marjoram, onion, and HOMEMADE chicken stock (and celery) to flavor it up.

Plus it was sourdough. It's been almost a year and I'm still raving about it. It was that good, lol.

You should post the recipe if you can find it!

I didn't use a recipe. I chopped up some old sourdough I had, toasted it a bit, seasoned it with salt/pepper/marjoram....put it in a casserole. Sauteed onions and celery in butter, seasoned those with salt/pepper/marjoram, threw that in there, then soaked it with homemade chicken stock from my pantry (quite a bit). Baked it. It puffed up beautifully and it tasted like it was cooked in the bird.

There are some sour dough stuffing recipes online too that sound delicious. Some with apples and raisins in them.

I think I put sausage in one of my casseroles..I made a couple.

 

[koshergrl]

The trick to stuffing is to boil all the herbs, spices, onion, celery, etc.the day before and let them set in the liquid over night before adding them to the stuffing. But everyone knows that.

I've never done that. Where do you keep it? In the fridge?

It's sort of a twist on the little bouquet thing..you know, where you put the herbs in a bag and steep it in the liquids.

 

[koshergrl]

We always boiled the neck, tail, and giblets..then used that broth for the stuffing (and pick/chop all the meat and put that in there too).

 

[ChrisL]

We always boiled the neck, tail, and giblets..then used that broth for the stuffing (and pick/chop all the meat and put that in there too).

I just made some homemade broth a few days ago. Chicken broth though, not turkey. My whole house smelled so good, and I was hungry all day!

 

[koshergrl]

The last time I made broth, I boiled two whole chickens. Usually I just do the carcass, you know, or some thighs...but I wanted to can broth.

We ate one of the chickens right away, and I canned the other...and I had a full canner of broth and oh my goodness was that stuff wonderful! I think it was 8-9 quarts of the most beautiful golden stuff you've ever seen. So completely different from the watered down stuff you buy at the store...and talk about handy!

 

[Camp]

The trick to stuffing is to boil all the herbs, spices, onion, celery, etc.the day before and let them set in the liquid over night before adding them to the stuffing. But everyone knows that.

I've never done that. Where do you keep it? In the fridge?

It's sort of a twist on the little bouquet thing..you know, where you put the herbs in a bag and steep it in the liquids.

yes

 

[ChrisL]

The last time I made broth, I boiled two whole chickens. Usually I just do the carcass, you know, or some thighs...but I wanted to can broth.

We ate one of the chickens right away, and I canned the other...and I had a full canner of broth and oh my goodness was that stuff wonderful! I think it was 8-9 quarts of the most beautiful golden stuff you've ever seen. So completely different from the watered down stuff you buy at the store...and talk about handy!

When I have to use packaged stock, I've been using Flavor Boost by Swanson. It's pretty good IMO. It's like concentrated stock, so it seems to be more flavorful, but you're right, nothing is as good as homemade.

 

[ChrisL]

The trick to stuffing is to boil all the herbs, spices, onion, celery, etc.the day before and let them set in the liquid over night before adding them to the stuffing. But everyone knows that.

I've never done that. Where do you keep it? In the fridge?

It's sort of a twist on the little bouquet thing..you know, where you put the herbs in a bag and steep it in the liquids.

yes

Yes, I knew that, but you said to let it sit overnight. I was asking if you let it sit in the fridge because I can't see leaving chicken stock out overnight.

 

[ChrisL]

We always boiled the neck, tail, and giblets..then used that broth for the stuffing (and pick/chop all the meat and put that in there too).

I did some giblets, a whole chicken carcass (with some meat left on), and I threw the wings and wing tips because I had to use up that dark meat.

 

[Camp]

The trick to stuffing is to boil all the herbs, spices, onion, celery, etc.the day before and let them set in the liquid over night before adding them to the stuffing. But everyone knows that.

I've never done that. Where do you keep it? In the fridge?

It's sort of a twist on the little bouquet thing..you know, where you put the herbs in a bag and steep it in the liquids.

yes

Yes, I knew that, but you said to let it sit overnight. I was asking if you let it sit in the fridge because I can't see leaving chicken stock out overnight.

Sorry, yes, I put it in the frig overnight.

 

[Vikrant]

I cannot cook even if my life depended on it. But here are some cool recipes from the pros.

Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes Food Network

 

[ChrisL]

I cannot cook even if my life depended on it. But here are some cool recipes from the pros.

Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes Food Network

Well, you're a little late but thank you for contributing!