What's In Your Stuffing?

It is not actually known where the food was first made and used but the earliest known uses are in the Roman times as it was found in a Roman cook book. It usually consisted of vegetables, meats, nuts and spices. In the middle ages stuffing was called farce, and this was derived from the French word Forcemeat, because the stuffing had meats in it and was forced into some other food - mainly turkey. nnIndeed, stuffing is a savory food that is usually stuffed into another food item. The main thing that it is stuffed into is usually a turkey or chicken in a main meal like a Sunday dinner or a Christmas dinner. Other than being used to stuff the carcasses of animals such as birds, fish and various mammals, it was also used to stuff various cuts of meat after being de-boned, as a little cavity is made in the meat then stuffed and cooked. nnIn addition to stuffing meat, stuffing was also used to stuff the casings of different vegetables like tomatoes and pumpkins. Stuffing can consist of anything in theory because all stuffing means is to stuff one food with another, but in the 20th century it usually is made up of different cereals and breads herbs and spices and eggs. nnThere are many different types of ready made stuffing's that most people would use for stuffing a turkey for a Sunday dinner, the main sort is ready packaged Sage and Onion stuffing that comes in a dried form. Here the user would open the packet, place it in a bowl and mix the dried mix with boiling water, and then smoothe down and bake in the oven, or place inside something and then cook it. But it is entirely up to the user if they want to cook it whilst inside a meat, or cook it in a bowl then stuff it into a meat. Other types of stuffing could be the stuffing balls that are now being made in frozen food stores. They come ready made and rolled into a ball and all you have to do is to cook it in the oven, but this sort of defies the object of stuffing because they make it with sausage meat and people eat this not stuffed into anything so it is debatable to call it stuffing. nnIf you choose to make your own Stuffing, then there are many great recipes out there. One of my favorites can be found at VideoJug.com, where not only do they give you great ingredients to use, but a professional chef shows you the process, step by step through an online film, all free of charge.nnEither way, stuffing over the years has become a thing that you expect when eating roast dinner, a turkey isn't a turkey without stuffing!