November 21 is the perfect day to celebrate National Stuffing Day as Thanksgiving day is right around the corner and we are already thinking about the delicious turkey stuffing that is a traditional part of Thanksgiving dinner.
While cooking (specifically for poultry), stuffing (also known as dressing or filling) is a mixture, often a starch, used to fill a cavity in another food item. However, there are many foods that are prepared stuffed such as different meats, vegetables, eggs and etc.
The typical turkey stuffing consists of bread cubes or crumbs combined with onions, celery, salt and pepper along with spices and herbs such as summer savory, sage or poultry seasoning. Other varieties include adding sausage, hamburger, tofu, oysters, egg, rice, apple, raisins or other dried fruits.
The first known documented stuffing recipes appeared in the Roman cookbook, Apicius “De Re Coquinaria”. Most of the stuffing recipes in this cookbook included vegetables, herbs and spices, nuts and spelt (an old cereal) with some of them also including chopped liver and other organ meat.
In addition to stuffing the body cavity of poultry and fish, various cuts of meat are often stuffed once deboned and having a pouch or slit cut in them. A few examples of other meats that are frequently stuffed include: pork chops, meatloaf, meatballs, chicken breast, lamb chops and beef tenderloin.
Popular vegetables that are prepared stuffed include, but are not limited to, are: tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and cabbage.
HISTORY
Within our research, we were unable to find the creator and origin of National Stuffing Day, an “unofficial” national holiday.