szukalski
Well-known member
If you had fun doing it, then it ain't no mistake!
The Cooking Thread
- Thread starter peccary
- Start date
MichaelW
Well-known member
So this is the first year that I am NOT cooking Thankgiving meal for my extended in laws. We usually try to get together somewhere near Thanksgiving and I'll do a big spread with traditional turkey then also some kind of beef, either a tied marinated tenderloin on the grill or a rub roast on the rotisserie, or something.
But my brother in law's girlfriend decided she wanted to cook Thanksgiving meal this year. Which it TOTALLY cool with me! (It gave me the day to finish building out my Strat hahaha).
But I did get one "assignment" which was to make my "Stuffin Muffins". This might be coming a bit late as your menu is probably already planned for tomorrow. But this is how I make stuffing.
Since I always spatchcock my turkeys, I never stuff them. (It's actually a highly unsanitary practice and you are still stuffing your bird....stop......there's a thousand reasons its bad idea but one big one is "salmonella" nuff said.
Anyway I make traditional turkey stuffing with bread crumbs I make from scratch. Well not from scratch but I buy fresh Italian bread, toast it, then cut it up and use that as the base. Then I add onions, celery, lots of butter, sage, thyme, salt pepper, dried cranberry and cut up apples. After making up the stuffing, I add a couple of beaten eggs to the mixture, then bake them in WELL BUTTERED muffin tins with a little egg wash on top right as it goes in the oven.
What comes out is a perfectly portioned stuffing muffin and more importantly EVERY PORTION has plenty of crispy parts. it's nice and browned all over from the butter and egg wash. Leftovers freeze really well.
Here's my recipe:
Stuffin Muffins
Makes. 12 servings
Preparation time. Assembly takes 30 minutes, baking takes about 1 hour.
Ingredients
3 pounds Italian bread, sliced
8 ounces (2 sticks) butter
1.5 cups finely chopped celery
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup peeled and chopped apple
6 cups low sodium chicken stock or turkey stock (I use "Better than Bullion" stock mix)
1 tablespoon of dried thyme (2 tablespoons fresh)
2 tablespoons dried crushed sage leaves (4 tablespoons fresh chopped)
1 cup cranberry raisins
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Method
1) Slice the bread and grill it over medium heat to dry it out and bring some nice golden toasty flavor to the party. Watch things closely because they can go from golden to burned in a hurry. Cut it into squares about 1/2" on all sides. Precision not required! Leave the crust on.
2) Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the celery and onions and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Add the thyme, sage, cranberry raisins, salt, and pepper, and cook for only 1 minute.
3) Pour the mixture over the bread. Add the apples and stock. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
Mix well (put on a pair of nitrile gloves and use my hands in a huge roasting pan, it's really the only way
Make muffins
1) Take 6 eggs, mix them with a fork in a bowl, and add them to the unbaked stuffing mix.
2) Spread butter thickly in the wells of a muffin pan and press the stuffing in, mounding it high.
3) Bake at 400°F in indirect heat on the grill or in an oven until the temperature in the center hits a minimum of 160°F and the top starts to brown, about 35 minutes.
But my brother in law's girlfriend decided she wanted to cook Thanksgiving meal this year. Which it TOTALLY cool with me! (It gave me the day to finish building out my Strat hahaha).
But I did get one "assignment" which was to make my "Stuffin Muffins". This might be coming a bit late as your menu is probably already planned for tomorrow. But this is how I make stuffing.
Since I always spatchcock my turkeys, I never stuff them. (It's actually a highly unsanitary practice and you are still stuffing your bird....stop......there's a thousand reasons its bad idea but one big one is "salmonella" nuff said.
Anyway I make traditional turkey stuffing with bread crumbs I make from scratch. Well not from scratch but I buy fresh Italian bread, toast it, then cut it up and use that as the base. Then I add onions, celery, lots of butter, sage, thyme, salt pepper, dried cranberry and cut up apples. After making up the stuffing, I add a couple of beaten eggs to the mixture, then bake them in WELL BUTTERED muffin tins with a little egg wash on top right as it goes in the oven.
What comes out is a perfectly portioned stuffing muffin and more importantly EVERY PORTION has plenty of crispy parts. it's nice and browned all over from the butter and egg wash. Leftovers freeze really well.
Here's my recipe:
Stuffin Muffins
Makes. 12 servings
Preparation time. Assembly takes 30 minutes, baking takes about 1 hour.
Ingredients
3 pounds Italian bread, sliced
8 ounces (2 sticks) butter
1.5 cups finely chopped celery
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup peeled and chopped apple
6 cups low sodium chicken stock or turkey stock (I use "Better than Bullion" stock mix)
1 tablespoon of dried thyme (2 tablespoons fresh)
2 tablespoons dried crushed sage leaves (4 tablespoons fresh chopped)
1 cup cranberry raisins
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Method
1) Slice the bread and grill it over medium heat to dry it out and bring some nice golden toasty flavor to the party. Watch things closely because they can go from golden to burned in a hurry. Cut it into squares about 1/2" on all sides. Precision not required! Leave the crust on.
2) Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the celery and onions and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Add the thyme, sage, cranberry raisins, salt, and pepper, and cook for only 1 minute.
3) Pour the mixture over the bread. Add the apples and stock. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
Mix well (put on a pair of nitrile gloves and use my hands in a huge roasting pan, it's really the only way
Make muffins
1) Take 6 eggs, mix them with a fork in a bowl, and add them to the unbaked stuffing mix.
2) Spread butter thickly in the wells of a muffin pan and press the stuffing in, mounding it high.
3) Bake at 400°F in indirect heat on the grill or in an oven until the temperature in the center hits a minimum of 160°F and the top starts to brown, about 35 minutes.
Last edited:
peccary
Well-known member
All of those words are right up my alley.
PapaBear
Well-known member
Add some sausage to that mix and you got a meal in a muffinSo this is the first year that I am NOT cooking Thankgiving meal for my extended in laws. We usually try to get together somewhere near Thanksgiving and I'll do a big spread with traditional turkey then also some kind of beef, either a tied marinated tenderloin on the grill or a rub roast on the rotisserie, or something.
But my brother in law's girlfriend decided she wanted to cook Thanksgiving meal this year. Which it TOTALLY cool with me! (It gave me the day to finish building out my Strat hahaha).
But I did get one "assignment" which was to make my "Stuffin Muffins". This might be coming a bit late as your menu is probably already planned for tomorrow. But this is how I make stuffing.
Since I always spatchcock my turkeys, I never stuff them. (It's actually a highly unsanitary practice and you are still stuffing your bird....stop......there's a thousand reasons its bad idea but one big one is "salmonella" nuff said.
Anyway I make traditional turkey stuffing with bread crumbs I make from scratch. Well not from scratch but I buy fresh Italian bread, toast it, then cut it up and use that as the base. Then I add onions, celery, lots of butter, sage, thyme, salt pepper, dried cranberry and cut up apples. After making up the stuffing, I add a couple of beaten eggs to the mixture, then bake them in WELL BUTTERED muffin tins with a little egg wash on top right as it goes in the oven.
What comes out is a perfectly portioned stuffing muffin and more importantly EVERY PORTION has plenty of crispy parts. it's nice and browned all over from the butter and egg wash. Leftovers freeze really well.
Here's my recipe:
Stuffin Muffins
Makes. 12 servings
Preparation time. Assembly takes 30 minutes, baking takes about 1 hour.
Ingredients
3 pounds Italian bread, sliced
8 ounces (2 sticks) butter
1.5 cups finely chopped celery
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup peeled and chopped apple
6 cups low sodium chicken stock or turkey stock (I use "Better than Bullion" stock mix)
1 tablespoon of dried thyme (2 tablespoons fresh)
2 tablespoons dried crushed sage leaves (4 tablespoons fresh chopped)
1 cup cranberry raisins
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Method
1) Slice the bread and grill it over medium heat to dry it out and bring some nice golden toasty flavor to the party. Watch things closely because they can go from golden to burned in a hurry. Cut it into squares about 1/2" on all sides. Precision not required! Leave the crust on.
2) Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the celery and onions and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Add the thyme, sage, cranberry raisins, salt, and pepper, and cook for only 1 minute.
3) Pour the mixture over the bread. Add the apples and stock. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
Mix well (put on a pair of nitrile gloves and use my hands in a huge roasting pan, it's really the only way
Make muffins
1) Take 6 eggs, mix them with a fork in a bowl, and add them to the unbaked stuffing mix.
2) Spread butter thickly in the wells of a muffin pan and press the stuffing in, mounding it high.
3) Bake at 400°F in indirect heat on the grill or in an oven until the temperature in the center hits a minimum of 160°F and the top starts to brown, about 35 minutes.
PapaBear
Well-known member
If you use Tart shells one recipe will make about 24, I use pecan chips and I don't toast them
MichaelW
Well-known member
Oh HECK ya, I've been wanting to do this for a while now but the only time I ever make this is for Thanksgiving or Christmas meal, never standalone. And there's already way too much rich food to have a sausage in the stuffing, although that really puts it over the top!
We're having leftover stuffin muffins with some gravy and a salad for dinner tonight. I need a couple of meatless meals to purge a bit......
RetiredUnit1
Well-known member
Turkey leftovers with my home made enchilada sauce. The orange drink is half orange, half pina-pineapple koolaid. Orange and Pineapple make cactus cooler. 
