The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 761

• The Food Lover’s Companion says the two terms can be
usedinterchangeably.
With that out of the way, I expect to hear no more on that
semanticsdiscussionthisholidayseason.
So, moving on, stuffing.While it can be made with any
numberofbases,themostpopulartype(andmyfavorite)is
made with bread, broth, eggs, and butter. Essentially it’s
best to think of stuffing as a savory bread pudding when
constructing a recipe.The key to great bread pudding is to
use the bread as a sponge to soak up as much flavorful
liquidaspossible.Atthesametime,throughyoudon’twant
ittobespongy.
Thecookedstuffingshouldhaveamoist,tender,custardliketexture.Itshouldbefirmenoughtocutwithaknifebut
softenoughtoeatwithaspoon,withabitofspaceleftover
to soak up some gravy. Much of this has to do with how
you pick and handle your bread, but before you get there,
you’ve got to decide what kind of bread you are going to
use. Whole-grain breads may have more flavor on their
own,buttheyarerougherintexturethanwhite-flourbreads.
Sinceinastuffingthebreadismoreavehicleforflavorthan
a flavor on its own, I prefer to use a white bread as it
achieves a more custard-like texture. It’s tempting to use a
high-quality, crusty, chewy, large-holed fancy-pants
artisanal bread, but the finer-hole structure of regular
supermarket-style “Italian” or “French” bread (or just highquality white sandwich bread) makes for better flavor
absorption and retention, and that’s what stuffing is all
about.


Afteryou’vecubedyourbread,thenextstageistodryit
out. It may surprise you, but drying and staling are not the

same thing (see “Drying Versus Staling,” here). Though
many recipes call for stale bread, what they’re actually
looking for is dry bread. Staling takes time. Luckily for us,
dryingisfast.Idrymybreadbytoastingitinalow(275°F)
oven for about 45 minutes, tossing it a couple of times
halfway through. By drying the bread like this, you make
enough room in the cubes from two regular-sized loaves
(about 2½ pounds) to absorb a full 4 cups of chicken or
turkeybroth.It’ssomuchbroththatthestuffingwillalmost
tasteasifyoubakeditinthebirdifyoudoitinaseparate
pan (for instructions on how to safely bake the stuffing in
thebird, seehere). I recommend starting it with foil on top
to trap in some moisture, before removing the foil and
crispingupthetop.

TheflavoringsIgowithareclassic:butter(andplentyof
it), sage sausage (you can get away with just sage for a
nonmeaty version), onions, celery, and garlic. My sister
likes to add dried cranberries and my mother likes to add
chestnuts.Theyare,ofcourse,bothwrong.