Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Stuffing and Cranberries

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday, so I'm using this week leading up to Thursday to prepare things, a little bit every day, and enjoying myself. Yesterday was for stuffing and today is for cranberry sauce.


My family is picky about stuffing, but what we really like is fried stuffing for leftovers. To do that, you need the right consistency - not too wet, not too dry, but just right so it can be sliced from the casserole dish and fried to a delicious crispiness on the outside while still moist inside. After lots of experimentation over the years, I make stuffing bread with all the seasonings incorporated into the loaf, cut it into cubes, and let them dry out for several days.


Then on Wednesday, I'll add eggs, butter, and stock to the dried bread cubes, and stuffing will be ready for Thursday (but really for frying on Friday and Saturday).


Today is the day for cranberries. My mother always made cranberry-orange relish, in fact, her recipe was so famous that Ocean Spray put it on the back of the cranberry bag. :-) It's really just cranberries and oranges ground together in the food processor, but I also add a teaspoon or so of orange oil.  Then it just sits in the refrigerator so the flavors can meld.


This year I found another cranberry recipe that sounded good so I'm giving it a try. Cook cranberries with orange juice and brown and white sugars until the cranberries pop, then add 1/4 cup Grand Marnier and cool.



I'll open a can of cranberry sauce because Justin likes it, but maybe the Grand Marnier will convince him to change his mind. Now I'm going to go scrub the cranberries off he stove, burners, and counters!

17 comments:

  1. I'll bet those cranberries simmering made the house smell like the holidays!!!! Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving!

    Hope to see you soon.

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  2. Oh, YUM, Bonny! :-) I love orange and cranberry together . . . but the addition of Grand Marnier is pretty genius!
    (I make a cranberry chutney recipe I found in Cooking Light magazine years and years ago. It adds dried cherries to the mix, and you cook the cranberries in a port and water mixture.) LOVE Thanksgiving! XO

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  3. Oh yum! I've heard other people talk about fried stuffing...I'm thinking I may need to try that sometime. My Mom made the same cranberry/orange relish (not cooked...just chopped up and sugar added). We still love that and I will make that a little later. Fletcher's Mom made a delicious cranberry chutney with tons of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, raisins, etc. That too is really good and I'll make that later as well. This year I'm trying a new recipe I just saw for a cranberry sauce (cooked) but with the addition of dried figs.

    It's just after 8 a.m. and I feel like having a turkey sandwich- lol!

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  4. Mmm. I love cranberry almost-anything, but none of my family share that love so I don't usually go all-out. I've never heard of fried stuffing before but... what's not to love???

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  5. YUM! Oh my! Fried stuffing??? What? How have I not known about this until now???

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  6. I love stuffing and cranberry sauce. The addition of Grand Marnier to the cranberry sauce sounds wonderful! I'm the pie maker in the family and will make pie crust later today and make the pies tomorrow.

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    1. I wish I was a better pie maker, so I'm glad to be going to my niece's for dessert! Enjoy your pies!

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  7. Cranberry sauce is HUGE where I work so I have a few ways of making it. My favorite recently has been oven roasting it and then adding bourbon. YUMMMMMM. I've never thought of frying leftover stuffing but I think that sounds absolutely fabulous and now I want to try it!

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  8. I need to get moving, Bonny! You're ahead of me. I will make cranberry sauce today. The guys like the canned and jellied kind, but I like real cranberry sauce, so I make it for me. Fried stuffing sounds delicious! I already make cornbread stuffing that is of the right consistency for frying, so I will definitely try that. It sounds like a new tradition in the making to me. First I must clean out the frig so I will have placed to put the food I am making!

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  9. All of that looks so delicious. The Delays have a family recipe for cranberry sauce so I've never made it. I love the idea of orange in the mix...and orange liqueur! Tell me...what do you eat with your fried stuffing?

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  10. mmm, delicious! I would love a taste of everything! I have to make a few things and share with other cooks.

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  11. Everything sounds delicious. Isn't it interesting that we all have favorite versions of the basic Thanksgiving dishes? I have heard quite a few people mention that Thanksgiving is their favorite holiday. I say, Amen.

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  12. mmmmmmmm. Eggs in stuffing? Wow, We dont do it that way. It is so fun to hear about other's dishes. We do butter, celery, onion, salt and pepper and hamburger and hot dog buns that have been cut into cubes and left out to dry. Thats' it!!

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    1. I am enjoying hearing about what everyone else serves and how they prepare things. Hamburger and hot dog buns sound interesting!

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  13. yum!!! I'm still trying to get my head around homemade bread going into the stuffing ... wow!

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  14. I made turkey gravy Monday and cranberry sauce yesterday. I think I'm ahead in fridge jenga, too. T-day for the win! I LOVE your cranberry recipe(s)! Mine is plain and simple.

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