A Southern Grace: dressed for success

November 14, 2012

dressed for success

Yum

After many posts with no chocolate, I did a u-turn and had about four in a row. I'm not playing games here, folks--this gal, she don't mess around. I'm turning around again (picture, if you will, Austin Powers' hilarious attempt at a three-point turn that becomes a 33-point turn...) and doing something savory. If there's anything more infrequent than a chocolate post on this blog, it's a savory post.


Dressing (or stuffing, if you insist upon calling it that*) is a Thanksgiving staple, and I love that every family has their own recipe and method of preparing it. There are myriad ways to personalize it, from adding sausage and nuts to using apples and cider. You can make it on the stove top, in the oven, or, as I prefer, using a combination of the two.

*Fun fact: According to Mrs. Cubbison's Thanksgiving survey, southerners say “dressing” while people in the East, Midwest, and West say “stuffing.” For the record, if it's in the bird, I'll agree that it should be called stuffing. Here's another factoid: When it comes to fretting on the big day, more than 30% of women said their biggest Thanksgiving meal concern is making sure all the menu items are done at the same time and stay warm. Men are most worried that the turkey will be too dry. That sounds about right to me, except I would say that the rest of the men polled were afraid their local channels wouldn't be showing the football game they want to see.


To make this batch of dressing, I used Mrs. Cubbison's recipe for an apple-walnut version and simply replaced the diced apples with chopped figs. The result was a chewy, crunchy, nutty, savory flavor extravaganza. This was my first experience with Mrs. Cubbison's, and it was a good one. The dressing was a breeze to prepare and a pleasure to consume.

This dressing was a trial run. I'm curious about what kinds of things you folks add to yours, or if you even serve it at all. Also, do you call it dressing or stuffing or could you care less? Thanksgiving is upon us!

16 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Sounds good!

Cheers,

Rosa

Beth said...

Back when we cooked it in the turkey, we called it stuffing. Now I bake it outside of the turkey, and I call it dressing. I love my dressing, which uses a sourdough bread base with fennel, red peppers, pears and sausage. But yours sounds good too!

Lynda said...

I love the looks of your dressing Grace and the addition of figs sounds yummy..... I could make a meal of just dressing and be very happy. My family prefers a plain herb dressing-no fruit added, which can get boring.

Mel said...

My dad loves all things figs - he would eat this up (literally!).

I Wilkerson said...

My favorite of all times didn't even go in a turkey, it went inside a lamb crown roast. It was oyster cornbread and I can't remember if I called it dressing or stuffing. Right or wrong,I tend to use the terms interchangeably. Do like figs (and nuts) too...

Sue/the view from great island said...

I pulled my 'trial run' stuffing out of the oven this morning...I made it with my pumpkin cornbread and sausage...it's yummy!

Rosita Vargas said...

Esta receta me encantó se ve muy deliciosa,abrazos y abrazos.

Juliana said...

Your stuffing sounds and looks good with fig and walnut...love the twist that you made Grace.
Hope you are having a great week :)

Magic of Spice said...

Figs and walnuts...will have to try this :)Looks wonderful!

Joanne said...

My parents have always made Stouffer's stuffing. I'm not kidding. It kills my soul. I love the idea of a fig addition though!

Cara said...

We call it stuffing - even though we don't actually stuff it in the turkey. I think it's a northern thing; I feel like dressing is a southern word :) My current version, which I'll be blogging this weekend, is cornbread-based with chorizo, apples, figs and pumpkin - needless to say, I love it!

Choc Chip Uru @ Go Bake Yourself said...

Mmmm your dressing looks so awesome I could imagine it on many dishes :)

Cheers
Choc Chip Uru

lisa is cooking said...

I don't always serve dressing. If we're having a crowd, I do. Some years, it's southern cornbread dressing and others it's simple bread and sage concoction. I love the idea of figs in dressing!

Carolyn Jung said...

I love anything with figs. And including them in stuffing is a genius idea. ;)

Amy (Savory Moments) said...

We call it stuffing, even though it's never actually stuffed in the bird.... we usually use breakfast sausage, lots of fresh sage, apples - sometimes dried cranberries or walnuts. There are some many varieties possible and I love the addition of figs here.

Laura said...

Ah yes, Thanksgiving. The reason I went all incommunicado for a while. :) We do call it stuffing (as does my husband whose mom was raised by a Southerner....hmmm...). I like it best with dried fruit, cornbread, and something fatty and porky. :)