STUFFING’S AND DRESSINGS

The terms stuffing and dressing are used interchangeably although, theoretically, stuffing could be interpreted as a product with which poultry, meat or fish is stuffed, while dressing is baked separately.

BASIC INGREDIENTS:

THE BASIC INGREDIENTS IN MOST STUFFING ARE:

1. A starchy base, such as bread, various rice or potato.
2. Onions and / or celery.
3. Some form of fat in which the vegetables are sautéed.
4. Seasoning, such as sage or thyme, or poultry seasoning which combines them both. Other stuffing’s and dressings may combine meats, oysters and other seafood, mushrooms, fruits and nuts.

PREPARATION:

Vegetables should always be cooked thoroughly prior to incorporating in a stuffing. This is particularly true of onions which spoil easily when not properly cooked. The vegetables will cook very little once incorporated. Vegetables should be cooled prior to mixing with the other ingredients, unless the dressing is to be baked immediately.

Stuffing should be light and moist. In preparing them, a minimum of handling, and care that excessive liquids are not used, will prove beneficial. Always spoon stuffing lightly into cavities of poultry, meat or fish. Do not pack it in. chicken stock and chicken fats are excellent for preparing dressings. Discretion should be used in seasoning. As previously noted, too much seasoning is worse than none at all. Bear in mind that you are not cooking for you own preference but for general acceptability.
COOKING TIME:

Stuffed turkeys require about one more hour of cooking time than turkeys that are not stuffed. Many operations no longer stuff turkeys, but bake the dressing separately. This saves time and makes possible better use of carcasses for stock.

FARCES AND DUXELLES:

In classical cookery, stuffing is further classified as farces and Duxelles. Farces are made of forcemeats (finely chopped or ground meat, fish or poultry), highly seasoned, with various binding ingredients. Meat, poultry or fish for farces may be raw or cooked prior to their incorporation.

TYPES OF FARCES:
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF FARCES:

1. Mousse lines a very light farce, bound together with egg whites and cream.
2. Farces with a panada, Escoffier describes these preparations as : bread panada or panada au pain, prepared from cooked fresh bread crumbs and milk; flour panada a la farine, prepared from cooked mixture of flour, water and butter. Frangipan panada a la frangipan, derived from a cooked mixture of flour, egg yolks, butter, milk and seasonings. Modern methods often substitute heavy cream sauce.

USE OF FARCES:

FARCES MAY BE USED IN A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT WAYS:

1. They may be used for stuffing meat, fish or poultry.
2. They may be combined with other products as in:

Galantines (a decorated dish of boneless poultry).
Pates (pronounced path-tay), a pie, baked in a casserole and having dough topping; filled with aspic jelly when cooked and allowed to cool. Pate also refers to pastes made from meat and poultry.
Terrines (like pates, but molded and often decorated) without baked dough; originally molded in a shallow, earthenware dish.

TYPES OF DUXELLES:

DUXELLES ARE OF TWO TYPES:-

1. Dry Duxelles, or Duxelles seches, composed of sautéed, chopped shallots, chopped mushrooms, herbs and seasonings, which serve as a base.

2. Duxelles with added moisture in the form of Brown Sauce, tomato products, glace de viande, fish fumet, sauces, wines and other ingredients, such as bread crumbs or ham trimmings. Duxelles may be used for stuffing mushrooms, tomatoes and other vegetables or may be combined with a variety for forcemeats to provide further variations of stuffing and farces.

FAMOUS DISHES

FRIED CHICKEN MARYLAND:

GRILLED CHICKEN:

CHICKEN SHASHLIK:

ROAST CHICKEN:

BAKED CHICKEN:

CHICKEN STROGANOFF:

STUFFED CHICKEN:

CHICKEN CORDON BLEU:

CHICKEN ALa KIEV:

BARBECUED CHICKEN WINGS:

FRIED CHICKEN WINGS:

SAUTÉ CHICKEN WINGS:

GRILLED CHICKEN WINGS:


FAMOUS DUCK DISHES

DUCK ALA ORANGE:

WHOLE ROAST DUCK:


QUAILS:


ROASTED QUAILS:

SAUTÉ QUAILS:

QUAIL EGGS


PIGEON :

ROAST PIGEON:

GRILLED PIGEON:


TURKEY :

ROAST TURKEY:


STUFFED TURKEY: