Bad-stuffing stories abound. One friend spent hours making a recipe from scratch. Pure disaster! So she tossed it and sent her husband on an emergency mission for several boxes of the stovetop variety.
For those who haven't completely given up on homemade and are looking for a simple, memorable stuffing, here are my tips:
Use bread with substance.
For a stuffing that's light yet substantial, with a crisp exterior and moist interior, pick crusty Italian- or French-style loaves. Soft sandwich breads aren't substantial enough to absorb and carry the weight of broth and vegetables. Taste the bread: If it immediately disintegrates or turns gummy in the mouth, it's not ideal. If it rips with as much difficulty as raw meat pulled from the bone, that's wrong, too. The ideal bread has a little chew.
I grew up on stuffing made from bread (mixed with corn bread) that was dried overnight, then toasted. I've tried to skip the drying step, but I believe that for the bread to be rehydrated with flavorful broth, it must be completely dry. Also, dry bread toasts better and has more taste. I also add a few eggs so the bread cubes cling together.
The baking method matters. Baked covered, stuffing stays moist but lacks an appealing crust. Baked uncovered, it dries out. I've found that a combination - bake covered until hot and steamy, then uncovered until a thin top crust develops - works best. I've tried higher temperatures to speed it up (for many of us, stuffing can't be baked until the bird comes out of the oven), but the results were dry and too brown.
Copyright 2004 USA Weekend and columnist Pam Anderson. All rights reserved.
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