Dressing Vs. Stuffing {A Thanksgiving Tradition}

Growing up in the South we always had dressing at Thanksgiving. It wasn’t until I met my husband that I even realized there was anything else served with mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and green bean casserole along side that yummy, delicious turkey.

One of our first Thanksgivings together when we were discussing the menu he asked for stuffing. I looked at him like he had 2 heads and was very perplexed {which as Fancy Nancy likes to say, “That is a fancy word for confused.}

“Stuffing? What in the world is stuffing?”

He proceeded to explain the idea of stuffing to me. There was some crazy talk about this stuff that’s a side dish and is stuffed inside the turkey before being cooked. “WHAT?!” After a lot of explanation, I replied “Oh, you mean dressing.”

Well, you can imagine the conversation that ensued…we went round and round about dressing vs. stuffing.

So, let’s dissect the idea for a minute.

In doing some research for this I ran across this great article from Realmanscookbook.com. I think he gave a very classy argument as to the difference between the two subjects at hand.

He states:

Truth is there is no difference in the ingredients; the difference is in the preparation. Stuffing to be stuffing must, in effect, be stuffed, crammed, rammed, shoved, squeezed or even coaxed into the cavity of a bird or at least between two halves of the same hunk of meat. The reason for calling it stuffing is as obvious as the reason cramming a basketball through the hoop at close range is called stuffing. Technically, if there is not a certain amount of grunting and arm flexing during this procedure, it is not stuffing.

Dressing, on the other hand, is like a three point jumper. It's a graceful arc straight from the pan and onto the plate. It is all net, no need to even touch the rim or the backboard. Grunting, however, is permissible.

So there you have it, y’all. The main difference is mostly in the preparation.

As for ingredients, it’s true there’s not too much difference, but there definitely are differences.

Dressing is mainly made from homemade, from scratch cornbread {hence the name, Cornbread Dressing}. My Mama usually adds some left over biscuits too.

Dressing also contains fresh vegetables and some spices. I always knew my Mama was making dressing when I could smell the onions and celery being “cooked down” in a little water to soften them up. You see, Dressing is a soft dish and no where should there be a crunch. Mama would chop up the celery and onions and cook ‘em down just enough to make ‘em soft but yet add that powerful punch of flavor.

A few spices are always added, and then there’s that secret ingredient my mama always adds…hard boiled egg.

Now my husband cannot wrap his mind around this idea…can’t even fathom it, but I tell you it’s so delicious. Bless his heart, he doesn’t even know what he’s missing!

I digress…

Once all the ingredients are mixed together, add a little chicken broth to moisten it up, pop it in the oven and bake it in a dish..not the cavity of some bird.

As for Stuffing, it is usually held together by old, stale, and sometimes petrified bread crumbs. And from what I’ve learned, most people who make stuffing use some kind of “pre-made” or from the box stuff. The vegetables are dried as well unless you want to add some fresh as well.

I have to say, I’ve tried both. I grew up on and look forward to my Mama’s dressing every year. I’m not a huge fan of stuffing, but that’s me.

We all have our traditions of Thanksgiving whether it comes in a pan or stuffed in the cavity of the carcass of the bird we are about to eat.

Happy Thanksgiving to all you turkeys out there. I hope y’all have a safe and happy holiday with your friends and family. Remember to eat and enjoy every bite of that dressing. And if you prefer stuffing…well, I won’t hold it against you. Ha!

If you are a newbie to the south and would like to try this stuff we down here call “dressing” here’s the closest recipe I could find to my Mama’s…

Original recipe makes 6 servings

• 1 (12 ounce) package refrigerated biscuit dough

• 1 (8 ounce) package corn bread mix

• 1 cup diced onion

• 1 cup diced celery

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth

• 2 hard-cooked eggs

• 1 teaspoon dried sage(optional) {I usually use poultry seasoning and not sage – or maybe a tiny bit}

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Directions

1. Prepare biscuits (enough to make 4 cups crumbled), and one 8x8 inch pan cornbread according to package directions. Cool and crumble.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. In a small pot, combine onion, celery, margarine and chicken broth. Bring to boil and cook vegetables until tender.
4. In a 2-quart casserole dish, combine 4 cups crumbled cornbread, 4 cups biscuit crumbs, salt, pepper, chopped eggs and sage. Pour broth and vegetables over bread mixture, and stir until combined.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes

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