TABLE OF CONTENTS
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THE WORLD’S 60 BEST STUFFED DISHES
Credits About This Book Intro Flavor & Cost Legend A Short History of stuffed dishes Must-Have Tools Tips & Tricks How-To Guide Glossary the chef’s secret
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Barbecue Pork Buns Pork, roasted Pepper & Feta Stuffed Mussels Fig & Prosciutto Parcels Savory Vol-Au-Vents Salmon, Shrimp & Almonds Squash-Stuffed Portobellos Chicken, Artichoke & Jalapeño Tomato & Cheese Hors D’Oeuvres Scotch Eggs Dolmades Meat Loaf Chicken Cordon Bleu Sausage & Olive Bites Lamb with Gingerbread & Almonds Zucchini Flowers & Swordfish Tartare Skate with Apple Cider Sauce Creamy Spinach-Stuffed Potatoes Chicken Florentine Fresh Tuna & Avocado Baked Camembert with Figs Herbed Pork Medallions Grilled Calamari & Chorizo Stuffed Peppers Mini Mushroom Mouthfuls Sweet & Savory Stuffed Dates Classic Fried Jalapeños Cream Puffs Orchard Pork Chops Salmon Zucchini Boats Cabbage Rolls
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Garlicky Escargot Potato Cups Piquillo Pepper Pintxos Eggplant Turbot Bundles Sicilian Trout Pork, Salmon & Cashews Spicy Beef Croquettes Boudin Apples Blue Cheese & prosciutto Arancini Beef Wellington Baked Pear & Chocolate Surprise tex-mex Red Peppers Fruity Stuffed French Toast Funky Cucumber Serrano-Wrapped Quail Beef, Cheddar & Veggies Spiced Smoked Salmon Rolls Veal & Asparagus Stuffed Goat Cheese Veal, Goat Cheese & Hazelnut Escalopes Quail with Foie Gras & Wild Mushrooms Deviled Eggs Mardi Gras Crab Paella Tomatoes The King of Chicken Deluxe Lobster All-in-One Christmas Dinner Moussaka-Style Eggplant Creole Shrimp Chicken with Green Olives & Lemon Ingredients Index conversion chart
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A SHORT HISTORY OF STUFFED DISHES Humans have been stuffing foods with other foods since ancient times. Stuffing can consist of almost anything, it can be sweet or savory, and it is used to fill the body cavities of animals (including mammals, birds, and fish), various cuts of meat, as well as vegetables, fruit, eggs, bread, and even desserts. Although historians don’t know exactly when stuffings were first used, the earliest recorded mention of the culinary practice appears in De Re Coquinaria (“On the Subject of Cooking”), a Roman guide to cooking believed to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century CE. The famous collection contains recipes for chicken, pig, hare, and dormouse stuffed with vegetables, herbs, spices, nuts, and grains, as well as liver, brains, and organ meat. In medieval Europe, stuffing was known as farce, from the Latin farcire and the French farcir, meaning “to stuff,” and standard stuffed dishes included suckling pigs and poultry stuffed with fruit and complementing spices, like cinnamon and ginger. The Greeks stuffed olives and peppers, and the Spanish on the Iberian Peninsula made empanadas, breads filled with meat and vegetables. In Victorian England, the term “stuffing” didn’t appeal to the sensibilities of the upper crust, and the food was renamed “dressing.” Today, the two terms are used interchangeably. But the practice of stuffing food wasn’t limited to Europe. Long before the arrival of the Europeans, the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica had been making tamales, corn dough stuffed with vegetables or meat, wrapped in a cornhusk and steam cooked. When the English settled in North America, they adapted their traditional stuffing to the local crops, using sweet potatoes and corn to fill their food. In many cultures throughout history, animals stuffed with other animals have been served to the wealthy at lavish banquets and feasts. One 13th century Andalusian cookbook includes a recipe for ram stuffed with small birds, while whole stuffed camel is a traditional Bedouin wedding dish, consisting of a camel with a nested stuffing of whole sheep, chickens, fish, and eggs! The Yorkshire Christmas pie, an 18th century English dish, was typically prepared with five different birds, baked in a crust. This pie could be considered the ancestor of the now-legendary turducken, which is a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey—a modern-day, truly decadent culinary delicacy! Today, we’re able to enjoy stuffed dishes from around the world—from char siu bao (Cantonese barbecue pork-filled buns) to dolmades (stuffed grapevine leaves) to tartarestuffed zucchini blossoms—and both amateur and professional chefs alike are experimenting with deliciously unconventional ingredients to create stuffed dishes that break the boundaries of tradition. The World’s 60 Best Stuffed Dishes offers a diverse collection of your favorite classic stuffed dishes, reinvented and improved. When it comes to stuffing, the sky’s the limit!
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HOW-TO GUIDE CREATING THE PERFECT STUFFED DISHES When stuffing a piece of meat, it’s important to make sure it’s securely fastened or wrapped shut: meat naturally shrinks during cooking, and the filling will spill out if there’s nothing holding it in. Here are a few essential techniques:
CAUL FAT (OR LACE FAT) Caul fat is the lacy, fatty membrane that surrounds the intestines of pigs. This seldom-used part of the pig is inexpensive and can be sourced from a butcher. Caul fat is ideal for wrapping stuffed meat containing filling that might become runny during cooking, as it keeps the meat tightly sealed and actually melts right into the meat as it cooks, resulting in a crispy, flavorful exterior, and a succulently moist interior.
CHARCUTERIE Charcuterie, such as sliced bacon and prosciutto, also works extremely well as a wrapping for stuffed food. The layers of fat it contains melt during cooking, and the meat shrinks to create a tight seal that keeps the filling in place. This technique is generally recommended for smaller preparations.
TOOTHPICKS Toothpicks are the easiest way to keep stuffed food securely fastened, and are particularly effective at holding together thin cuts of meat. However, if the filling contains runny cheese, the food must be cooked quickly, or the cheese will leak out and create an unwanted mess.
KITCHEN TWINE Without a doubt, twine is the most well known method for binding and tightly securing stuffed food. Here’s how to tie up your meat in four easy steps:
1. Place the meat in front of you vertically on a work surface. With a piece of string, wrap a tight
loop around the meat at the far end and tie in a double knot.
2. Make a loop with the string. 3. Slide the loop around and under the meat at the far end. Tightly pull the loop and repeat until the
meat is completely tied, spacing the loops about 1 inch apart.
4. Finish by tying the string in a double knot at the end closest to you.
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ALL-IN-ONE CHRISTMAS DINNER SERVES 4
1 turkey breast (about 2 to 3 lbs)
FOR SPICE RUB 1 tsp mild paprika 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp brown sugar 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper 1/4 tsp ground cloves Zest of 1 orange 1 tbsp vegetable oil
FOR STUFFING 2 tbsp butter 1 onion, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, chopped 1/4 cup (60 ml) hazelnuts, chopped 1 mild herb sausage 5 fresh sage leaves, chopped 1/4 cup (60 ml) whole cranberries in sauce 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar Salt and freshly ground pepper
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PREPARATION In a small bowl, combine all spice rub ingredients. In a pan, heat butter and sauté onion for 1 to 2 minutes. Add garlic and hazelnuts and cook for 1 minute longer. Using a small knife, make a cut down the length of the sausage and remove meat. Discard casing. In a bowl, combine onion mixture, sausage meat, and remaining stuffing ingredients. Butterfly turkey by carefully slicing along the side horizontally, without separating it completely. Open like a book to form a large rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and, using a mallet or a jar, flatten the thickest parts of the turkey breast. Place turkey breast on a work surface, spread out stuffing in the center, roll up as tightly as possible to make sure stuffing doesn’t spill out, and tie securely. Rub turkey breast with spice rub and then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Place chilled turkey breast, seam side down, in an oven-safe dish. Cook in a 500°F (250°C) oven for 15 minutes and then lower the temperature to 350°F (175°C) and continue cooking for 30 minutes, basting turkey 2 or 3 times during cooking with the liquid at the bottom of the pan. Remove string, slice turkey breast, and serve with a bit of sauce.
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FRUITY STUFFED FRENCH TOAST
4 slices plain brioche bread 1/4 cup (60 ml) whipped cream cheese 8 strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced
FOR FRENCH TOAST BATTER 1/2 cup (125 ml) milk 1/4 cup (60 ml) brown sugar 3 eggs 1/4 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 tsp cinnamon 2 tbsp butter
SERVES 2
PREPARATION
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In a bowl, whisk together milk, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. Set aside. Spread 1 tbsp cream cheese over each brioche slice. Top 2 slices with strawberries and then close. Dip sandwiches in batter. Allow the sandwich to soak up the liquid and ensure that they are fully coated. In a non-stick pan, heat 1 tbsp butter per sandwich. Carefully place sandwich(es) in the pan, cook for 1 to 2 minutes, and then gently flip and cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer. Gently flatten the sandwiches slightly. Remove from pan, cut in half, and serve.
TASTY TIP For an extra sweet treat, drizzle with real maple syrup before serving.
DID YOU KNOW? In France, French toast is called pain perdu, meaning “lost” (or “wasted”) bread, as it was traditionally made to use up bread that had gone stale.
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