Stuffing, filling, or dressing is an edible mixture, often composed of and a starch such as bread, used to fill a cavity in the preparation of another food item. Many foods may be stuffed, including poultry, seafood, and . As a cooking technique stuffing helps retain moisture, while the mixture itself serves to augment and absorb flavors during its preparation.
Poultry stuffing often consists of breadcrumbs, onion, celery, , and herbs such as sage, combined with the giblets.
History
It is not known when stuffings were first used. The earliest documentary evidence is the
Roman Empire cookbook,
Apicius De Re Coquinaria, which contains recipes for stuffed chicken,
dormouse,
hare, and
Pork. Most of the stuffings described consist of
,
and
, nuts, and
spelt (a
cereal), and frequently contain chopped liver,
, and other
organ meat.
Names for stuffing include "farce" (~1390), "stuffing" (1538), "forcemeat" (1688), and more recently in the United States, "dressing" (1850).
Cavities
In addition to stuffing the body cavities of animals, including
,
fish, and
, various cuts of meat may be stuffed after they have been deboned or a pouch has been cut into them. Recipes include stuffed chicken legs,
stuffed
pork chops,
stuffed breast of
veal,
as well as the traditional holiday stuffed
turkey meat or goose.
Many types of vegetables are also suitable for stuffing, after their or flesh has been removed. , (sweet or hot peppers), and vegetable marrows such as zucchini may be prepared in this way. and similar vegetables can also be stuffed or wrapped around a filling. They are usually blanched first, in order to make their leaves more pliable. Then the interior may be replaced by stuffing, or small amounts of stuffing may be inserted between the individual leaves.
Purportedly Ancient Rome, or else Medieval, cooks developed engastration recipes, stuffing animals with other animals. An anonymous Al-Andalus cookbook from the 13th century includes a recipe for a ram stuffed with small . A similar recipe for a camel stuffed with sheep stuffed with stuffed with carp stuffed with eggs is mentioned in T. C. Boyle's book Water Music.
Fillers
Almost anything can serve as a stuffing. Many American stuffings contain a
Starch ingredient like
bread or
, usually together with vegetables, ground meats, herbs and spices, and eggs. Middle Eastern vegetable stuffings may be based on seasoned rice, on minced meat, or a combination thereof. Other stuffings may contain only vegetables and herbs. Some types of stuffing contain
sausage meat, or
forcemeat, while
vegetarian stuffings sometimes contain
tofu. Roast pork is often accompanied by sage and onion stuffing in England; roast poultry in a Christmas dinner may be stuffed with sweet chestnuts. Oysters are used in one
traditional stuffing for
Thanksgiving. These may also be combined with
, for a heavy stuffing. Fruits and dried fruits can be added to stuffing including apples, apricots, dried prunes, and raisins. In England, a stuffing is sometimes made of minced pork shoulder seasoned with various ingredients, such as sage, onion, bread, chestnuts, dried apricots, and dried cranberries.
The stuffing mixture may be cooked separately and served as a side dish. This may still be called stuffing or it may be called dressing.
Food safety
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that cooking animals with a
body cavity filled with stuffing can present potential food safety hazards. Even when the meat reaches a safe temperature, the stuffing can still harbor bacteria, and if the meat is cooked until the stuffing reaches a safe temperature, the meat may be overcooked. For turkeys, for instance, the USDA recommends cooking stuffing separately from the bird and not buying pre-stuffed birds.
See also
External links
External links
