No way, man. My grandma’s stuffing was some of the best stuff I’ve ever eaten. She passed down the recipe to my mom, but my mom is gluten-free so she can’t taste-test it as she makes it, so it’s never quite the same. Yet, still way better than stovetop.
Cranberry sauce, though. I will always prefer the canned jello type stuff over homemade. Some homemade ones are great, sure, but that canned stuff is so good.
I’m Canadian so I had this conversation about a month ago.
I agree with the stuffing … when you are preparing ten food items for a big supper, no sense in taking time to make complicated stuffing when all you need is a big packet and some hot water. Especially when the difference is negligible between instant and homemade.
I feel the same about frozen lasagna. Either my wife, myself or both of us can spend hours in the kitchen making a good lasagna recipe and it doesn’t taste much better than a store bought frozen one that didn’t take any work.
Now Turkey Gravy … that is a war I’m willing to fight.
The worst crime I ever witnessed was my mother in law’s Turkey Gravy, which I had to bear every Christmas for years. She dosed her roasted turkey in plain water, drained the liquid at the end, strained off the fat, leaving only mostly water and then added a flour slurry with no spices … it came out as a thin white pudding the same color as the potatoes and the whole family loved it. As much as they said they loved it, everyone heavily salted their food anyway.
That was about ten years ago and I’ve studied the gravy arts and become an expert at seasoning my turkey, roasting it with minimal liquid, carefully collecting drippings, making roux, seasoning and flavoring if I need to and making the creamest, tastiest, brown turkey gravy … even my wife raves about it now.
God that reminds me, I froze some leftovers into a dinner tray … I’m eating some today.
I feel the same about frozen lasagna. Either my wife, myself or both of us can spend hours in the kitchen making a good lasagna recipe and it doesn’t taste much better than a store bought frozen one that didn’t take any work.
Speak for yourself on that one. I can do a home made lasagna that’s far better than anything that’s available mass produced and frozen.
But I’m still gonna bake a Stouffer’s most of the time because it’s way less work.
I don’t deny it and I would love to try your lasagna.
But on average it takes about six hours to make a good lasagna … that’s cooking, cutting, mixing, boiling, preparing and then baking the food. Not to mention the expense of gathering good ingredients to make it.
I’m not saying frozen lasagna is the best … it’s like the turkey stuffing … I would rather spend five minutes making some instant store bought food that is decent quality rather than spend hours making something a little bit better.
Some people cook good food, some don’t. I’ve made homemade stuffing dozens of times. A couple of times it was too dry, or too wet and was gummy, or over seasoned. I learned from those and definitely prefer the stuffing I make to any mix.
The directions say to mix the hot water thoroughly throughout the dry mixture, cover, and remove from heat so the entire mix can absorb the water. Sounds like there was no mixing and the half that wasn’t in the water barely got any while the rest was sitting in the water meant for the entire package. Easy fix is to mix it before covering. Hopefully the next batch comes out to your satisfaction!
OK, but “savoury” as an ingredient? Otherwise it is basically the same, though I don’t know what is implied by mentioning a flavor profile as an ingredient.
That savoury makes the difference. It isn’t a flavor profile though. It’s a dried herb. Summer Savoury. In Newfoundland it’s just called savoury all the time. No, I don’t know why. Confused the hell out of me too when I was younger.
It doesn’t grow solely in Newfoundland so you might be able to get it elsewhere. It’s just an herb. The issue comes with getting it at specific times of year.
Be careful not to add too much. Dressing just isn’t dressing without it, but if you add too much it can cause heartburn. There’s such a thing as “too much of a good thing.”
Most of my family just does really dumb stuff with stuffing. Celery? Fucking gross, get that slimy wood out of my food. Putting it in the turkey? Far too soggy. I understand some people want to call it “dressing” instead of “stuffing” if it’s not “stuffed” into the bird, but I don’t care. If you want to get pedantic I’ll just say dressing > stuffing.
The worst is overseasoned stuffing. Under-sessoned stuffing can be saved by gravy. But I’ve had stuffing that’s way too salty, or just completely overwhelmed with black pepper.
The boxes stuff? Perfectly acceptable every time. A variety of flavors: traditional is great, but don’t be sleeping on cornbread either.
I’ve had some pretty good stuffing in restaurants. And I suspect it comes straight from the same factory as the boxed stuff too. I’m sure I could make a slightly better stuffing myself from scratch, but not significantly better enough to merit the increased cost, time, and kitchen resources.
I often feel the same. Actually good homemade stuffing is amazing. But then they go and put big chunks of celery or fucking pickles of all things for some reason in it.
There’s a part of me that wants to suggest recipes to save you from this nightmare, but your ignorance is your bliss and it comes from a readily available, cheap and easy to prepare cardboard box.
In my 40 years, I have had many home made recipes. I have never found them comparable for one weirdly indulgent reason - salt. I think the salt content for better or worse is what drives me to the boxed stuff, especially now with the huge (and reasonable!) drive toward low sodium broth. I don’t know why, but boxed stuffing/dressing is my favorite food.
I’m with you. Maybe it’s because I’ve never had truly good homemade stuffing? It’s always a weird, damp, spongy mess. But that box of Stove Top, ready in minutes? I’ll eat the whole thing by myself. It’s also great to have an extra box to go with the leftovers, especially for the sandwiches.
I think that's totally fine, as much as some might want to turn this into a "Ketchup on Steak" kind of holy war.
I grew up on StoveTop and I do think it's yummy.
My mother in law makes a stuffing that's essentially potatoes, bread, onions, whatever other seasonings, and yes a good bit of salt. (I haven't helped make it I admit, so I could be doing it a disservice to describe it that way)
She even cooks some of it inside the turkey and some of it outside, though it never really gets soggy.
As far as I'm concerned, you could throw out the entire rest of Thanksgiving dinner and just give me a big bowl of that.
You’re damn right that a lotta stuffings end up undersalted. And I’m not gonna tell you the boxed stuffing isn’t tasty. (My “nightmare” comment is totally hyperbolic and flippant, but we’re having fun here I hope)
But I have a friend who makes it with sausage and sage herbed brown butter and I’m confident it’s a box beater. Heck of a lot more work, though.
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