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Nagging Question
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What’s the Difference Between Stuffing and Dressing?Blame politeness for the confusion |
There’s no difference between stuffing and dressing, according to The Food Lover’s Companion. Both are mixtures “used to stuff poultry, fish, meat and some vegetables.”
“This comes up every year,” says Leo Pearlstein, who does media relations for Mrs. Cubbison’s Foods Incorporated and has worked with the stuffing maker since 1950. Pearlstein thinks people started using the term dressing because “the notion of ‘stuffing’ didn’t sound so mannerly,” a sentiment echoed in a recent AP article.
The Oxford English Dictionary says that the word stuffing dates back to 1538 and is defined as “forcemeat or other seasoned mixture used to fill the body of a fowl, a hollow in a joint of meat, etc., before cooking.” The OED entry for dressing is less specific and states that it is “the seasoning substance used in cooking; stuffing; the sauce, etc.”
The Joy of Cooking differentiates between the two by saying it’s stuffing if you put it in the bird, and dressing if you serve it on the side, but the National Turkey Federation says that “both terms are used interchangeably.”
Bottom line: Call it whatever you feel comfortable saying, and enjoy.
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Original meanings aside, there is a useful differentiation. Stuffing is a dressing which has been stuffed into something (birds, roasts, vegetables, fish, whatever). That's not a terribly well established or official differentiation, but it's useful.
I thought dressing and stuffing was the same thing, at least its use is one in the same.
Stuffing and dressing are the same when used in standard turkey-talk. The word "stuffing" came with early colonists from England and stays prevalent in New England. Usage changed to "dressing" in polite English society and that is the term brought by later colonists, hence its prevalence in the South and Mid-West along the routes of migration. The word "stuffing" came to be regarded as uncouth by mannered society in England; witness the still-current slang "get stuffed!"
My understanding is the change to "dressing" occurred in Victorian Britain - as stated "polite society". I gre wup in Nova Scotia, and thought of "stuffing" as an American term (only ever heard the word on US commercials for StoveTop, which I don't think was available here then). Makes sense that we'd be influenced by the word switch - beng a colony at that time - while New England was not, and not so influenced by the whims of Vicky. BTW - "stuffing" also refers to a certain sexual act which Victoria must not have approved of - we're still paying that price.
Stuffing, in British English, has a different connectation, which brings into understanding the use of dressing for its replacement. Victorian, Southern, or not, I grew up with both terms, having family across the country and 2 meals during both Thanksgiving and Christmas day (with married parents).
So "Get Dressed" and "Get Stuffed" must mean the same thing! Around where I now live, south eastern Pennsylvania, they also often call it "Filling". What ever you call it, it does taste good. I used to make mine in the turkey, but I now do it in the crock pot, as you can then cook the turkey faster and for a shorter period of time, and the meat doesn't dry out so much.