HolidayPaperturn - Flipbook - Page 14
Holiday Table
Chef B9s Apple and Sausage
StuffinG
Jersey-Style Sausage Stuffing
with an Apple Cider Twist
By C.G. Wolfe l Photos by Stacey Roessler
Turkey is a side dish and vegetables are mere
décor – it’s the stuffing that my Thanksgiving
and Christmas culinary dreams are made of,
whether its mom’s old fashioned giblet dressing, a classic sage and onion recipe, or newly
discovered creations like Chef B’s Apple
Sausage Stuffing.
T
he Romans were stuffing chickens in the 1st century A.D.,
but roasted turkey and stuffing (or dressing; the word became interchangeable in the 1850s), has been adopted as a
uniquely American holiday dish, and every region adds a cultural
flavor all its own. British colonists brought oyster stuffing to New
England, where it endures as a tradition during Thanksgiving and
Christmas, when the mollusks are plump and briny. And down
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south, where cornbread stuffing is king, Georgians add the nutty
flavor of pecans, which are at their peak buttery sweetness during
harvest time in October and November.
But in the Garden State, where Italian food reigns supreme,
sweet Italian sausage defines New Jersey style stuffing, and Chef
Bernie Davis (Chef B) of the Black River General Store, in Pottersville, has his own variation that9s featured in his gourmet catering menu and is often served at the General Store on his Turkey
Gobbler sandwich; a holiday left-over lover9s delight made with
fresh roasted turkey and cranberry.
Chef B9s dressing draws from provincial style cooking; adapting
simple, authentic time-honored dishes by focusing on local ingredients and regional influences, to create a holiday side dish that
celebrates our local countryside as well as New Jersey9s Italian heritage, which Chef B told us he inherited through indirect osmosis.
