Stuffing

Did You Know?

• The United States Department of Agriculture recommends cooking stuffing separately from the bird for food safety.
• A recipe for a camel stuffed with sheep stuffed with bustards stuffed with carp stuffed with eggs appears in T. C. Boyle's book Water Music.

History

The first known use of stuffings is uncertain, but the earliest documentary evidence appears in the Roman cookbook Apicius' De Re Coquinaria, which includes recipes for stuffed chicken, dormouse, hare, and pig. Those stuffings typically contained vegetables, herbs, spices, nuts, spelt, and often chopped liver, brains, or other organ meat. Over time, names for stuffing have included farce, stuffing, forcemeat, and dressing.

Cavities

Stuffing can be placed into the body cavities of animals such as birds, fish, and mammals, or into deboned cuts of meat like chicken legs, pork chops, and breast of veal. Vegetables such as tomatoes, capsicums, and marrows like zucchini are also stuffed after their seeds or flesh are removed. Cabbage and similar vegetables are often blanched to make leaves pliable, then filled or wrapped. Ancient Roman or medieval cooks reportedly developed engastration recipes, stuffing animals inside other animals, as seen in a 13th-century Andalusian cookbook recipe for a ram stuffed with small birds.

Fillers

Almost any ingredient can serve as a stuffing. Many American stuffings include a starchy component like bread or cereals, along with vegetables, ground meats, herbs, spices, and eggs. Middle Eastern vegetable stuffings often use seasoned rice, minced meat, or both. Some stuffings contain sausage meat or forcemeat, while vegetarian versions may use tofu. Oysters are used in one traditional Thanksgiving stuffing, and fruits such as apples, apricots, dried prunes, and raisins can be added. The mixture may be cooked separately and served as a side dish.