Dressing/Stuffing, whatever you call it.
 

In remembering Thanksgivings gone by, it always seemed that the dressing was the star of my family's dinner. My mother's favorite was cornbread & sausage, my brother's was dressing from inside the bird, mine was outside of the bird (there's a story about that), my sil's was stuffing balls that her mother made, and everyone else just seemed to take a little of everything.

I still won't eat dressing from inside the bird, but my soon2b sil makes a fantastic dressing with ground beef. What type do you like, and does it have anything special in it?


We could also get into a discussion of the joys of cranberries: jellied or sauce?

Stuffing - inside the bird
Dressing - outside the bird

There does seem to be a regional angle - dressing being the more southern. My mother's cornbread dressing is legendary. Mmmmm . . . I love it with gravy. Lots and lots of turkey gravy.

As for cranberries - I make my own relish and sauce. I was told once by my father and brother that I ruined Thanksgiving the year I hosted and did NOT have that jellied canned abomination. So I have gracefully bowed out of hosting duties.

For me & my Southern roots, dressing is what you make with cornbread, whether it is inside or outside the bird. Stuffing is what you make with white bread.

Dressing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner!

The only thing that I really care about at Thanksgiving is dressing. Lots and lots and lots of dressing. I also don't like it when people put extra junk in it. No need to be fancy. Just be good.

ours is cooked outside, made with cornbread and sausage ( a southern living magazine recipe) and is so good you want to roll around in it! i just cooked the sausage(jimmy dean spicy) and corn bread, sauteed' the celery and onion, mixed it all together with the other ingredients and put it in a gallon ziplock bag for the transport to my folks house. i will bake it Thursday morning.

this recipe freezes very well, i just was not on the ball ahead of time.

re: cranberry sauce. i like the whole berry sauce best, and if anyone wanted to make their own for our dinner, i would be thrilled.

LOL. From the perspective of my Southern roots, dressing is what we eat, while stuffing is what is eaten by people in some other parts of the country (presumably those parts of the country where they also frost cakes instead of icing them). I can remember my grandmothers suggesting that there is something slightly uncouth about serving something called "stuffing."

I'm not sure I've ever met a dressing i didn't like, but I'm partial to a good cornbread or oyster dressing. (Oysters are mandatory at Christmas, though ours were traditionally scalloped oysters rather than in the dressing.)

Dressing is always my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. MC, my mother said the same thing as your grandmother about "stuffing".

My favorites are the aforementioned dressing with ground beef (it sounds awful but it's awesome!) and the cornbread with sausage dressing. If someone throws little bits of apple or cranberries in it, I can deal with it.

We always had cornbread dressing made with egg and celery. Turkey gravy is a must. Rice dressing is another option. It's not standard in my family, but my SIL is making it for T-giving for our first West Coast transplant holiday dinner. I miss having my grandmother's cornbread dressing, though. It's been 9 years since I had it. :(

I love to make fresh cranberry relish and will probably make it at least two times between now and Christmas. The stuff in the can is gross.

Cornbread Dressing ! ... AND LOTS OF TURKEY GRAVY with giblets. My family's cornbread dressing has been handed down for generations. I even have a copy framed and in my kitchen. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!!! I cannot wait.

We call it dressing, in the bird or out.

It's made with cornbread, melted butter, chicken broth, green onions, sage, and, if I'm feeling reckless...rosemary.

I don't like cooked celery, so that's out.

I like it from the bird. Baking it ruins the texture.

But, I learned a neat trick of putting some in the crock pot - perfect moist consistency without touching the inside of the turkey.

As to the cranberry sauce, I think the stuff from the can - whole berry or gel is about as fancy as I need.

And if I had to throw in a pie choice? Pecan. Or chocolate chess.

We call it stuffing whether or not you actually make it in the bird.
I like it with regular bread & doused in gravy.

Yummm...

I knew I should have never opened this thread.

Thank you and amen.

Likewise - around here, whether you cook it inside or outside the bird, it's stuffing - although if it's cooked outside the bird, the only thing it actually "stuffs" is the people eating it :p

My husband and I decided to host Thanksgiving this year. This means two meals, as my parents and in-laws don't get along. But our families are small (DH and I are only children) so Thursday will be the two of us and my parents, and Saturday will be the two of us and his parents. For my folks, I'm trying out a slow-cooker recipe I found for a turkey breast. For his parents, we're grilling lamb chops (as Her Highness (a.k.a. my MIL) doesn't like turkey). But at each meal, there will be stuffing. White bread, celery, onion, seasonings, and butter.

White cornbread dressing, roasted in a pie pumpkin! I'm also putting chopped apples and dried cranberries in it. No cranberry relish/jelly at my table!

This year for us it's cornbread dressing outside the bird, made with bacon and apples. And I did cranberries 3 ways-- traditional sauce, orange-cranberry relish, and jalapeno and onion cranberry chutney!