Yahoo Lifestyle How to Make Stuffing 10x Better, According to My Chef-Husband
Everyone has their Thanksgiving favorites. For me, it's a crunchy-creamy green bean casserole. For others, it's the silky, buttery stunner of the group, the mashed potatoes. But for my chef-husband Luke, it's all about the stuffing.
He personally makes this savory side at his New Canaan, CT restaurant Elm annually and although the recipe has evolved—some variations have featured cornbread, pistachios, apricots, wild mushrooms, and on occasion, foie gras—the one constant that remains is that everyone loves Luke's stuffing.
In case you think that I'm exaggerating I give you this: This year, he's flying to his sister's house with freezer bags full of giblet gravy and his prized chestnut raisin stuffing. It's the first year he's taking Thanksgiving off in, well, forever. Just to appease his family...and me.
Kelli Acciardo Venner
So, if you've been tasked with stuffing duty this year, do yourself a favor and try his foolproof recipe. I might be biased, but it will definitely be the star of the spread. Keep reading for how to make it, plus his other tried-and-true stuffing ingredient combos to file away for future use.
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How to Make Thanksgiving Stuffing Like a Chef
I asked Luke when we were dating why he loved this stuffing so much, and he told me the reason was that the first restaurant he worked at in high school had homemade stuffing available as a side dish year-round. "We used the leftover sourdough dinner rolls, Hormel sausage crumbles, instant chicken broth and a lot of melted butter," he recalled. "This recipe harkens back to those memories with a few elevated ingredients to satisfy the chef in me."
And therein lies the secret to a fantastic stuffing recipe: If there's one flavor, one ingredient, one memory that reminds you of Thanksgiving, lean into that, with a lot of butter and bread. The best part about Luke's chestnut-raisin stuffing though (other than the first bite) is it isn't too labor-intensive. It takes a little prep in the form of chopping and mixing but then you pop it in the oven and let it do its thing while you get back to the bird.
Plus, it's customizable and leaves plenty of room for on-the-fly tweaks. "The number 1 thing to remember about stuffing is that doesn't need to be so precise," he tells me, "so don't be afraid to add a little extra of the ingredients you like the most."
Related: We Tried 9 Different Stuffing Mixes and the Winner Totally Surprised Us
Chef Luke's Chestnut-Raisin Stuffing Recipe
To recreate Luke's signature stuffing, you'll need two sourdough batards, although you could use a different kind of rustic loaf—use what you can find. You'll also need two pounds of breakfast sausage, a celery stalk, two white onions, a pound of chestnuts (frozen is great unless you want to peel chestnuts), a half pound of golden raisins and a bundle of fresh sage.
Pro tip: Don't skip the raisins. They're a pop of delicious sweetness with every bite of savory goodness. For the stuffing binder, Luke uses two quarts of homemade roasted chicken stock he makes at the restaurant, but storebought absolutely works as a shortcut.
Last but not least, he sneaks some sauteed foie gras into the mix. "It's the holidays!" he always tells me, encouraging a little indulgence like this, but by all means feel free to skip this step.
To prep, you'll want to grab the biggest bowl you have (seriously, the biggest one), then chop the onion, celery and bread into one-inch cubes. You could also roughly tear the bread if you're going for a more rustic vibe.
If your bread is super fresh, toast the cubes in some butter in the oven or let it hang out for a day until it's slightly stale. This makes for the best bread for stuffing, per Luke. The chopped veggies also get a sweat in a pan with some butter until they're nice and soft, caramelized and buttery.
For the sausage, roast the full links in a pan and allow them to cool to room temp, then dice them up in disks similar to the size of the cubed veggies. Lastly, you'll want to quarter the frozen chestnuts and toss them in melted butter to roast in a sheet pan. Everything.is.better.with.butter!
Once the ingredients are prepped, combine them all in one big tinfoil baking tray or an extra-large casserole dish with some chopped sage and give them a good toss using plastic gloves (a mess-free hack I've picked up from Luke). Then, pour in the stock.
Related: We Tried 8 Different Canned Crescent Rolls and There Was One Option We'd Definitely Buy Again
Kelli Acciardo Venner
Once it's all well combined, cover the pan, pop the stuffing in the oven and bake it at 375°. As for how long, that depends on your oven, plus how deep your tray or casserole dish is, so Luke's main suggestion is to keep an eye on it.
"The raw stuffing needs to cook until the moisture has enough convection to steam, and then a little extra cooking time to develop a nice crust," he tells me when I ask when it will be ready, year after year, impatiently.
Once it's been about 30 to 40 minutes you can uncover the stuffing so the top can get a little bit crispy. When the edges of some of the bread cubes turn golden, you know it's ready.
Related: We Tested 7 Frozen Dinner Rolls and It Took a Tie-Breaker to Crown the Winner
More Chef-Husband-Approved Stuffing Combos to Win Thanksgiving
For the Vegetarian: If you have vegetarian and vegan friends at the dinner table this year, Luke loves to make an extra earthy stuffing using whole wheat bread, a medley of root vegetables (think cubed parsnips, carrots, turnips, yams and celery root), plus some wild mushrooms.
For the Southern Charmer: Another one of his tried-and-true stuffings takes its cues from the South with cornbread as the stuffing base, plus bacon, sweet peppers and celery loaded throughout.
For the Epicurean: Feeling fancy? For anyone looking to impress in-laws and other gourmand guests, pull out all the stops with his brioche, apricot and pistachio stuffing combo. He also likes to add foie gras for a festive twist but that's entirely optional.
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