Dreaming About…Sausage Stuffing

The other day, our blogger Elisha Gechter happened to mention that sausage cornbread stuffing was a Southern favorite for Thanksgiving.  And the very next day I ran into friends in the elevator who told me, “We were just discussing your sausages and thinking about stuffing for Thanksgiving!”

This, not surprisingly, got me thinking about sausages and stuffing for Thanksgiving.

Turkey stuffing in my mother’s house is a simple, celery onion and breadcrumb affair, and doubtless there are those around your table who look forward, as I do, to familiar tastes year after year.  This sort of person may or may not be the same sort of person who prefers canned cranberry sauce to the orange zested-spiced up homemade version, for tradition’s sake.  Be that as it may, turkey stuffing can take on so many different flavors, it’s a shame to just stick to the same old same old.

Or at the very least, make two kinds — it’s just as good baked in a casserole and basted with turkey pan drippings than as cooked inside the bird.

Here are a handful of amazing sounding recipes for sausage stuffing, including that cornbread one, that you may want to try!  Many of the recipes call for butter — I tend to replace the butter with equal amounts olive oil and shmaltz — chicken, duck or beef — but feel free to use all one or the other, or a parve margerine if that’s your style…

If you do make one of these recipes, or another one, let me know how it goes!

• Cornbread Chorizo Stuffing (NY Times)
• Sausage Stuffing with Caramelized Onions (NY Times)
• Sausage and Mushroom Stuffing (NY Times) NB: This recipe calls for liver, giblets and heart; we carry the first two, but no hearts — just increase the amount of giblets and liver to make up the difference.
• Apple, Sausage and Parsnip Stuffing with Fresh Sage (Bon Apetit)
• Sourdough Stuffing with Pears and Sausage (Cooking Light)