Shortly after I moved from Perugia, Italy, to NYC in September of 1985, I noticed that the supermarket windows started displaying perfectly browned, size DD breasted turkeys. Magazine covers ablaze with the sunset-on-fire hues of fall vegetables, and television commercials featuring home-for-the-holidays casserole-laden tables.
As a young immigrant from a country where food is sacred, I was intrigued by this turn of events, in a society where I had yet to encounter the same culinary devotion I experienced growing up. I soon learned it was a tradition called “Thanksgiving.” It took another 2 years of researching the customs, sampling ingredients, and clipping recipes to fully understand that the food traditions of Thanksgiving lie mainly in the ingredients – rather than the recipes – and that every culture makes their table its own unique celebration.
In 1987, I tried a stuffing recipe from Gourmet Magazine, where I swapped oysters for Italian sausage and tossed in a handful of Parmigiano – thus beginning my lifelong tradition of giving Thanksgiving a particularly “Italian spin.”
The hundreds of faces who have dined at my Thanksgiving tables since then are often a blur. But a few occasions stand out. There was the 1988 party we threw for 35 people out of my stamp-sized NYC-student-kitchen – with those cloud-like squash rolls that never tasted as good as they did that night. Or the fullness I felt in my heart in 1998 –when I cooked the first Thanksgiving meal with the man who is now my husband. And I’ll never forget 2006 – the year bringing changed my fraught relationship with turkey!
Through the years, my never-ending curiosity for food, a move to California, and my deeper cooking expertise have all contributed to expanding my Thanksgiving repertoire. The one constant, however, which always wins my mother-in-law’s undying affection is my Thanksgiving stuffing.
Making my stuffing recipe is a multi-step process that requires time and patience, as every component is made from scratch, but I promise it will be well worth it! To make the task less daunting, I break up the work over the course of the week.
A few notes: To avoid overcooking the turkey, bake your stuffing separately, rather than inside the turkey. The freshly-made stock will give it that essential distinctive flavor and aroma.
Duck fat and buttermilk are the two elements that push this cornbread stuffing to the next level. You can swap them for butter and milk in a pinch, but if you have access to the ingredients, I strongly suggest using them. Use a medium or coarsely ground cornmeal – it yields a sturdier bread that won’t get soggy.
Pre-cooked chestnuts are the one shortcut I take. I used to boil and peel my own, but then one year, I couldn’t find fresh ones, so I resorted to the pre-packaged variety – only to realize it made no substantial difference to the end result.
Lastly, through the years, I have switched from using Italian sausage to seasoning my own pork – as it gives me more control over the end product. However, using pre-made Italian sausage is a perfectly acceptable shortcut.
And just one more note: The measurements in this recipe yield enough stuffing to easily feed 15 people. As delicious as it is, it is a very rich and filling dish. And the best part? It’s gluten-free!
Fresh Cornbread Turkey Stuffing With Pork And Chestnuts by Viola Buitoni
For a 9x12” baking dish
Ingredients:
For the cornbread:
(Adapted from The Way to Cook by Julia Child)
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 cups cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon solid duck fat
¼ cup melted duck fat (butter, vegetable oil or lard will also work)
For the turkey stock:
1 turkey neck
2 turkey wingtips
1 yellow onion
5 cloves
2 carrots
2 celery ribs
2 bay leaves
5 peppercorns
1 lemon slice
1 tablespoon salt
For the filling base:
1/2 lb ground pork
1 garlic clove
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 yellow onion
2 celery ribs
6-8 sage leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 ½ sticks butter
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons currants
3 tablespoons rum
1 ½ cups pre-cooked peeled chestnuts
1 Granny Smith apple
¼ cup sliced almonds
6 tablespoons Parmigiano cheese, grated (or parmesan)
Method:
Make the cornbread ahead on Sunday or Monday so it has time to dry and ripen.
Start by preheating the oven to 425 ̊F (400 ̊F for a convection oven).
Combine the cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk the buttermilk and eggs in a slightly larger bowl.
Place the solid duck fat in a 9-10” cast-iron pan and slide it into the oven.
Using a wooden spoon, mix the dry ingredients into the buttermilk and eggs. Lastly, stir in the melted (and slightly cooled) duck fat.
Protect your hands with oven mitts and safely remove the hot cast-iron pan from the oven. Swirl it to make sure the bottom is coated with duck fat.
Pour the batter into the pan and return the pan to the hot oven.
Check it in 20 minutes. It will be ready when the top is pale brown and the edges look like they’re trying to shrink away from the pan.
Turn out onto a cooling rack and slice off 1/3 of the bread. Divide the smaller half into as many pieces as there are members of your family. Then slather the cornbread with butter and honey. Eat while still steaming hot. (This breaking and sharing of the cornbread sanction the official beginning of Thanksgiving for our family.)
Wrap the remaining cornbread loosely in foil and let it set in a cool, dry place until needed.
The stock can also be made a few days ahead. Note that this recipe only requires a pint of the stock, but I always make half a gallon for the gravy and the day-after turkey stew.
Crack the neck bones with a cleaver or mallet. Toss the neck and wingtips into a 3-quart pot.
Rinse the onion and remove the outer dry layer, leaving the underlayer of golden skin still on. Add the garlic clove. Wash the carrots and celery ribs and cut them into large chunks. Place all the aromatic vegetables in the pot.
Add the bay leaves, whole peppercorns, lemon slice, and salt. Cover with 2 quarts of cold water.
Over high heat, bring the stock to a boil. Lower the heat until it simmers and skims the top. Let simmer for 90 minutes partially covered. Strain and refrigerate until ready to use.
Pick all the bits of meat off the neck and eat them with coarse sea salt and olive oil while still warm. My mother-in-law and I usually fight over this delicacy while the rest of the family looks on in horror.
Two to three days before assembling the stuffing, mince the garlic into a paste with a pinch of salt. Add it to the ground pork and season it with 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 or 2 teaspoons of black pepper. Massage the seasonings into the meat, seal in a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
Remove the seasoned ground pork from the refrigerator, uncover it, and let it come to room temperature.
Peel the onion and cut it in half from stem to root. Slice it into paper-thin half-moons. Rinse the celery and peel off any threads. Slice in thin crescents. Stack the sage leaves and roll tightly lengthwise, slicing them in very thin ribbons.
Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and melt until it foams. Add the sage, onion, celery, and lemon zest. Season with ½ teaspoon of salt. Once the onions are translucent, cover and continue cooking over low heat until the vegetables are completely softened and quite fragrant (about 15-20 minutes). Check periodically to make sure they’re not sticking and add a little water if necessary.
Soak the currants in the rum. Coarsely crumble the chestnuts with your hands. Wash, core, and cut the apple into thin slices.
Bring the onion and celery to cook over high heat. Uncover and add the pork, crumbling it with a fork or a tomato masher. Cook for about 5-8 minutes, until it has changed color from pink to beige. Adjust salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl.
Add the currants and rum, the chestnuts, the sliced apple, the almonds, and 4 tablespoons of Parmigiano. Coarsely crumble the cornbread and toss it with the rest of the ingredients. Toss well, adjusting salt and pepper as needed.
Melt 1 stick of butter and pour it over the rest of the ingredients. Toss well.
Grease the baking dish with 1 tablespoon of butter and fill with the stuffing. Douse with 1 pint of turkey stock. Dot with the last pat of butter and dust with the remaining Parmigiano cheese.
Bake at 350 ̊F for 30 minutes, until it is heated throughout and the top is slightly golden. Serve while still hot.