How I made stuffing... in Korea

 Most stuffing recipes call for things that are inconvenient to get a hold of here. Like canned soup. And ovens. And spices.  So I had to be a little creative this year. Actually although I have made homemade stuffing with my mom every thanksgiving, I never really paid much attention to the actual ingredients because I didn't think I'd ever want to make it on my own. But here I was, hoping for real stuffing. So, what to do?

 

First, instead of chicken broth I made a vegetable broth. I let the carrots, onion, celery and celery leaves boil for as long as possible before adding them to my practice batch. Then I let the soup sit in the fridge for 2 more days before making the real thing on Sunday. 

To my bread, which had been left out for 24 hours, I added some of the soup and some of the veggies from the stew. (On thanksgiving day I also fried up more veggies to add to the mix).  Then added a bit of mashed potato (my mother's style) rather than an egg to keep it together. I threw in a bunch of the two Italian spices I have: basil and parsley and hoped for the best.

My one baguette from Salaam Bakery (*note to self, must write a blog about this place) was enough to fill up this one small tin. On thanksgiving day, I doubled the recipe, using two baguettes. Which somehow yielded three of these small tin plates of stuffing. 

Then I roasted it in my toaster oven which I recently acquired when my beloved friend Matt returned to England. Fortunately, the tin plate exactly fits in the oven! I toasted with a cover for 15-20 min and then without a cover for another 10 min to toast it a bit.

In the end? It turned out ok. Actually my first batch had the best flavor, but it was too soggy for my taste. So the next time around I put in less soup, which gave it the right consistency, but it lacked a little in flavor. Ces't la vie..  Anyway, if your cooking stuffing this weekend for your Thanksgiving party, I hope this gives you a little help in making your stuffing!