Inside Out Stuffing

It's the food holiday. My favorite time of year. Family and Friends all have come together to share a meal of traditional dishes such as turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and the works. For this mini-series, I have taken 5 classic thanksgiving dishes and made some minor tweaks, that you can bring to your dinner table this thanksgiving. We are starting with my favorite dish of thanksgiving, stuffing or dressing. Bread cubes, butter, aromatics, herbs, broth. It's basically a savory bread pudding.

INSIDE OUT STUFFING

Stuffing Ingredients:

  • 227 g Butter (2 sticks)

  • 150 g Celery

  • 75 g Onion

  • 2 g Fresh Sage

  • 2 g Fresh Thyme

  • 4 Eggs

  • 120 g Milk

  • 550 g (1 loaf) White Bread

  • Coarse Salt to taste

  • 2 g Black Pepper

Sausage Ingredients:

  • 227 g Ground Turkey (80/15)

  • 25 g Garlic (2-3 cloves

  • 2 g Fresh Sage

  • 5 g Coarse Salt

  • 2 g Black Pepper

Prep Work (Mise en place):

  1. Read the recipe

  2. Gather all ingredients + equipment

  3. Dice celery and onion

  4. Mince fresh sage, thyme, and garlic

  5. Cut loaf of bread into cubes

Stuffing Method:

  1. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium low heat. Add the diced celery, onion, and a small pinch of salt and cook for 15-20 minutes until translucent and soft.

  2. Meanwhile in a separate bowl, beat the eggs and milk together. Set aside in the fridge.

  3. Once the celery and onion are cooked, stir in the fresh sage, thyme, black pepper, and saute for 1-2 minutes. Taste the vegetables for salt and add another pinch.

  4. Remove the pot from the stove. Add the bread cubes to the vegetable mixture and stir to soak up the butter.

  5. Pour in half of the egg and milk mixture to the stuffing. Using your hands, mix the stuffing. When you can form a stuffing ball in your hand without it falling apart, you are okay. Add more egg mixture as necessary. Reserve the excess egg mixture for brushing on the outside before baking.

  6. Line a square 9x9 baking pan with saran wrap, add the stuffing and press it into all corners of the dish to form a 1 inch thick layer*. Set in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up. Meanwhile prepare the sausage.

*Note: You will likely have extra stuffing which can be formed into a muffin tin and baked for a quick appetizer.

Sausage Method:

  1. Mix the ground turkey, garlic, sage, salt and pepper until well combined. Form the sausage into a long roll that will span the width of the stuffing. I.e. It will reach both ends when inside the stuffing. Let cool in the fridge while heating cast iron. Note: This can be mixed ahead of time and stored in the fridge until ready.

  2. Heat a cast iron over medium high heat.

  3. Sear the sausages on 4 sides for 20 seconds each and set aside (the inside should not be completely cooked as we will be finishing in the oven.

Bringing It Together:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (204 C).

  2. Take the stuffing out of the fridge. Lay the seared sausage across the far end of the stuffing.

  3. Using the saran wrap, slowly roll the stuffing over the sausage until it becomes circle and remove the saran wrap. Crimp the stuffing roll with your hands to firm up the shape.

  4. Pour or brush on the remaining egg mixture and crimp the final loaf shape.

  5. Add to the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Turn the broiler on for another 2 minutes to crisp up the edges.

  6. Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting into thicc slices and serving.

Ethan Chlebowski