Whether you start from scratch or reach for boxed stock and canned cream-of-mushroom soup, Thanksgiving dressing (or stuffing, depending on how you say it) is a blank slate ripe with flavor opportunity. It’s often the extra elements, additions, and sometimes surprising ingredients or techniques that make a straightforward dish like dressing stand out.
We talked to Chefs Gabe Barker of Pizzeria Mercato in Carrboro, North Carolina, and Nick Wallace in Jackson, Mississippi, about how they make their Thanksgiving dressing—and learned a few tips. Spoiler: They both learned a lot from their moms and grandmas. (Us, too!)
Nick Wallace said it best: “I want people to remember my cooking in great ways, and I want people to come back to me when they choose to.” With these chef-approved (yet homegrown) tips and tricks for a memorable Thanksgiving staple, you’ll people coming back for seconds—and thirds—every time.
Morgan Hunt Glaze; Food Stylist: Sally McKay; Prop Stylist: Phoebe Hausser
Cornbread
“If I am the person that’s doing the stuffing, then it’s a cornbread-based stuffing. We have my grandmother’s cornbread recipe that I have used both personally and professionally,” says Barker, who has used the same recipe for a range of dishes at his restaurant—from croutons to panzanella—that he does for his stuffing. With 100 percent cornmeal and plenty of eggs, he says, it’s perfect. “It’s really custardy and eggy. It lends itself to moisture retention [in dressing].”
Nick Wallace was raised on cornbread dressing, too. “Always cornbread dressing,” he said. “My mom has the best,” he said, and after describing her classic recipe in detail from his commissary kitchen in Jackson, Mississippi, where he operates a catering business as well as the restaurant Nissan Cafe, I believed him.
Homemade Stock
“Flavor is something that you can remember,” Wallace said, and he remembers how his mom always starts from scratch with day-old bread, a creamy base boosted by homemade bone broth to saturate it, and plenty of aromatics.
“You have to go through the whole process of cooking the chicken, deboning it, and taking the bone and celery to create a flavorful stock,” he insists.
As for Barker, “Being a professional cook, I freeze chicken stock in batches in my freezer, so I [always] use that as a moistening agent.”
Sausage
“I let cornbread and sausage be the star of the show,” says Barker. “I use Neese’s hot sausage. It’s consistent, which at the end of the day is what cooking is all about. The quality of animal is good, which makes a huge difference.”
Roasted Black Peppercorns
Before grinding fresh black peppercorns into ground black pepper, Nick Wallace roasts them.
“Anything that I add black pepper [to], I want it to be pronounced,” he says. “I take coarse black peppercorns and roast them in the oven.” Simple as that. The result is a little more aromatic, a little smokier, and a little more strongly peppery.
“I want people to remember my cooking in great ways, and I want people to come back to me when they choose to.” – Nick Wallace
Sage
“My mom is a really good cook,” says Wallace, who follows his mom’s lead and uses a lot of sage, which shares some piney aromas of black pepper. “But I’m probably heavier with the spices,” Wallace admits. “I use fresh sage and she uses dried sage.” The root of the flavor combination and concept is still there, and he says he owes it to her.
Victor Protasio, Food Stylist: Margaret Dickey
Diced Egg
That’s right! Diced or finely chopped egg in gravy is the final touch—a technique that Wallace learned from his mom.
“Dressing should have a creamy base and a [separate] sauce that has a creamy element that has diced egg in it,” said Wallace. “It’s almost like your mashed potatoes and gravy.”
The technique is reminiscent of sauce gribiche, a sauce in French cuisine that emulsifies hard boiled egg yolk with oil and mustard and herbs to create a tangy, velvety sauce. By adding it to gravy, it creates a succulent, velvety, and thick texture that dips and drips through Thanksgiving stuffing beautifully.