Eggs in stuffing?

[snowangel]

I have spotted a couple of recipes lately that call for raw, beaten eggs in stuffing. This is a foreign idea to me, but if there's a good reason to do it, I will.

[klkruger]

I use them--1 or 2. They add binding for loose stuffings and some richness.

[RAHiggins1]

I left them out this year and liked it. The texture was much looser and the dressing was just moist enough to keep it together.

[Jon Savage]

I like eggs in bread stuffing, but stuffing done nicely is a thing of beauty with or without them.

[Lilija]

I was always pondering the inclusion of eggs, what it did for the stuffing. Interesting, so it binds it? Are we talking slicable?

[andiesenji]

I always add eggs to dressing because my great-grandmother and my grandmother did (to be totally truthful their cooks did it but it was to the specifications laid down by my g-grandmother).

I have had perfectly delicious stuffing without eggs, although with some broth or similar stuff to moisten it.

[Jaymes]

I make traditional southern cornbread dressing, and always add 1 or 2 raw eggs, as well as one chopped hard-boiled one. Don't know the pros and cons of adding eggs to other types of stuffing, but I don't think cornbread dressing is as good without them.

[paulraphael]

Just a traditional binding ingredient. You can try any type of stuffing with or without. Or with more or less. Or with just yolks or just whites. All will give slightly different results. My only rule is that I don't want to taste the eggs, so I try to keep eggs (or at least yolks) to a minimum.

[Marlene]

I put 1 egg in my stuffing, but I don't put the stuffing in the bird.

[Jaymes]

Just a traditional binding ingredient. You can try any type of stuffing with or without. Or with more or less. Or with just yolks or just whites. All will give slightly different results. My only rule is that I don't want to taste the eggs, so I try to keep eggs (or at least yolks) to a minimum.

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Of course. Guess I didn't make my point, so I'll try again.

As I am a southerner, I make cornbread dressing because I and my family very much prefer the texture. It's been my experience that cornbread dressing has a naturally grainer, dryer texture than the soft, soggy white bread stuffing (what my grandmother used to call "that ol' gummy Yankee dressing") favored in more northern climes. So what I was trying to say was that while adding a beaten egg to cornbread dressing makes it more moist, which is a good thing, I fear that perhaps adding it to white bread stuffing would make that even softer and soggier as well.

And although I realize that egg is just a binder and you can add it to anything, I know what I would think about bread stuffing being even softer and soggier than it usually is, but I don't know what people that like that sort of stuffing would think about it.

[Abra]

I've never made stuffing without eggs, and frankly I don't see what holds it together if you don't use eggs. That said, I make a dressing that's part cornbread, part wheat bread, and unless you use a fluffy Wonder bread type of bread, it shouldn't be gummy. I think of sogginess as a function of how much broth is added, as opposed to being the result of the addition of eggs.

[Magictofu]

Hard boiled eggs in the center of your stuffing can be quite nice too. The trick is to cut the extremities of each egg and align your eggs so that you end up with a very long egg. This way, each guest will have a slice of egg with yolk in the center. It works particularly well when you cook the stuffing separately or when you debone the bird before stuffing it.

[PopsicleToze]

Mom's cornbread dressing -- made in a huge roaster -- has a dozen raw eggs and a dozen hard boiled eggs. Base is 1 cast iron skillet of cornbread. I never can understand how one skillet of cornbread can be the base for that huge dressing. It has a huge pot of sauteed vegetables in butter, several cans of golden cream of mushroom soup (yeah, I know -- we've discussed -- they stay, lol) a couple of chickens deboned and I'm sure a few other things. The raw eggs in addition to a binding makes it rise a bit -- kindof like cornbread chicken dressing souffle. Sometimes it has oysters and sometimes it doesn't.

The description sounds whacked, but it is possibly the best dressing I have ever tasted.

Rhonda

[sparrowgrass]

Now, Jaymes, my stuffing is not gummy. I bake a good sturdy bread to cube and dry, lots of butter, celery and onions cooked in the broth from the neck and gizzard, and 3 or 4 raw eggs, beaten and stirred in just before I put it into a casserole or stuff the bird.

Oh, and sage, salt and pepper.

You would like it.

[Katie Meadow]

I've never heard of using eggs. I do a very simple chestnut bread stuffing with the usual suspects: modest amount of chestnuts, homemade bread that has a good percentage of cornmeal cubed and dried, butter, celery, onion, sage, thyme, etc and one minced tart apple. Half gets cooked in the bird and half out. The stuffing inside the turkey gets no add'l broth or anything. The stuffing that's cooked as a casserole gets some broth.

Seems to me the amount of moisture in the in-bird stuffing depends not only on the type of bread used, how dry the cubes are and whether or not broth is added, but also on how well sealed the cavity is. If the cavity is barely closed with a few metal thingees (like those sold in packages) broth or a binder might be necessary since more dry heat is going in. I sew my turkey up the old-fashioned way with needle and thread, so less drying heat gets in and therefore no need for add'l moisture of any kind. The small amount of apple is enough. It isn't gummy, but it does come out moist.

[chappie]

I always make an improvised, homemade stuffing with lots of fresh herbs from Mom's garden. This year I used a ton of mushrooms because I had them, and yes, I used one egg blended with the stock.

It holds the mixture together better for our new method: Plopping big balls of it into muffin tins so each guest can grab their own individual "stuffing muffin," with lots of crustiness.

Served last night alongside Saveur's crisp apple-scented roast turkey (brined overnight and delicious), a recipe from last year that's easily accessible on the magazine's revamped website. Also roasted garlic whipped potatoes, applejack-infused gravy (per Saveur), good old peas, roasted and glazed veggies (onion, parsnip, carrot, sweet potato and fennel), crap dip (as appetizer) and a Smith Island cake for dessert -- more of a birthday cake because my brother-in-law was born Christmas Day.

Back on subject, though, I think I'll make oyster stuffing muffins next time. Herbs I used were fresh sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano and a bit of basil; breading was one bag of cubed stuffing mix and half a loaf of non-dried, cubed Trader Joe's whole wheat Tuscan Pane, which I think along with the egg added to the cohesion of the mix in muffin tins.

Merry Christmas, eGulleteers!

Edited December 25, 2008 by chappie (log)

[jvalentino]

It holds the mixture together better for our new method: Plopping big balls of it into muffin tins so each guest can grab their own individual "stuffing muffin," with lots of crustiness.

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Darn! I heard about this sometime ago and totally forgot-thanks for the reminder. Too bad my stuffing is baking this minute.

Merry Christmas!