{"id":222037,"date":"2025-11-11T16:09:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T21:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/?post_type=recipe&#038;p=222037"},"modified":"2025-11-11T16:25:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T21:25:33","slug":"a-chefs-secret-ingredient-for-thanksgiving-dressing","status":"publish","type":"recipe","link":"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/recipe\/a-chefs-secret-ingredient-for-thanksgiving-dressing\/","title":{"rendered":"A Chef&#8217;s Secret Ingredient for Thanksgiving Dressing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It took years for Virginia native Mason Hereford to land on the perfect recipe for Thanksgiving stuffing, called dressing in his adopted hometown of New Orleans. \u201cBefore, when I was working as a line cook and had access to all these crazy ingredients, I was on my high horse, but now on Thanksgiving when I\u2019m cooking for a big group, I try to get from point A to point B more reasonably,\u201d says the chef, who owns the sandwich go-to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.turkeyandthewolf.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Turkey and the Wolf<\/a> and breakfast spot <a href=\"https:\/\/mollysriseandshine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Molly\u2019s Rise and Shine<\/a> in the city\u2019s Irish Channel neighborhood. For the past four years, he\u2019s followed a formula he carefully developed to maximize flavor and minimize stress.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<!-- Promo shortcode start --><div id=\"nlf-1c\" class=\"gg-promo topic-distilled big\"><div class=\"grid\"><div class=\"title\">Get Our Bourbon Newsletter!<\/div><div class=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/promos\/bourbon-newsletter-big.jpg\" alt=\"glass of bourbon with ice\"><\/div><div class=\"right\"><form id=\"nlf-1\" method=\"post\" class=\"form\" action=\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/newsletters\/\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"gg_form_submit\" value=\"nlf-1\"><div class=\"dek\">Distilled is our newsletter about the South\u2019s favorite spirit.<\/div><div class=\"action two-items\"><div class=\"input-left\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"email\" class=\"email-input\" value=\"\" placeholder=\"you@example.com\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"group_id\" value=\"151240180\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"shortcode_form\" value=\"nlf-1\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"subscription_99416\" value=\"on\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"prev_page_id\" value=\"222037\"><\/div><div class=\"gform_footer\"><div style=\"display:none;\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-st\" id=\"nl-nov-st1\" value=\"\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-b\" value=\"\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-r\" id=\"nl-nov-r1\" value=\"2025-11-14\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"nl-nov-et\" id=\"nl-nov-et1\" value=\"\" autocomplete=\"off\" tabindex=\"-1\"><\/div><button data-sitekey=\"6Lc-hRkaAAAAAI84hbB81Jl48pGievR_C_UgHdnY\" data-callback=\"on_submit_nlf_1\" data-action=\"submit\" class=\"g-recaptcha button button-primary after-email\">Sign Up<\/button><\/div><\/div><div class=\"captcha-terms\"><p>This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google <a href=\"https:\/\/policies.google.com\/privacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/policies.google.com\/terms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p><\/div><\/form><script>document.getElementById('nl-nov-st1').value=Date.now();document.getElementById('nl-nov-r1').value='';function on_submit_nlf_1(token) {document.getElementById('nl-nov-et1').value = Date.now();document.getElementById('nlf-1').submit();}<\/script><\/div><\/div><\/div><!-- Promo shortcode end -->\n\n\n\n<p>First things first, the bread: Hereford uses hot dog buns, a family trick. \u201cThey just dry out really well and get really light and crispy, and then it&#8217;s the perfect vehicle to soak up all that delicious stock and juice and seasonings,\u201d he says. Just like in a sandwich, whatever bread you\u2019re using lends a flavor to the dish. \u201cWith the hot dog buns, you can really let all the other ingredients do the talking, and that\u2019s what you want with dressing.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hereford makes a stock with chicken wings, which he finds to be a useful shortcut because they are so flavorful, and then mixes in herbs and his other secret weapon, Jimmy Dean sausage. \u201cDon\u2019t spend all your time making it exact, either,\u201d he says. \u201cJust throw it all together and pre-season it and you&#8217;re good to go.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dish, also included in Hereford\u2019s cookbook, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/turkey-and-the-wolf-flavor-trippin-in-new-orleans-a-cookbook-mason-hereford\/9510a6e087831170?ean=9781984858993&amp;next=t&amp;next=t&amp;affiliate=1939\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Turkey and the Wolf: Flavor Trippin&#8217; in New Orleans<\/a><\/em>, will appear this year on his holiday table. \u201cIt\u2019s my favorite dish that I make\u2014and my second favorite dish on the table, after my mom\u2019s burnt tomato casserole\u2014and I think we should eat dressing more often than just at Thanksgiving.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Orleans culinary star Mason Hereford spent years perfecting this easy-to-make casserole, also known as Thanksgiving stuffing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":222038,"template":"","categories":[1780,2391],"tags":[30158,292,36,53,30280],"authors":[29332],"issue":[],"recipe-type":[],"class_list":["post-222037","recipe","type-recipe","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-and-drink","category-recipes","tag-dressing","tag-louisiana","tag-new-orleans","tag-thanksgiving","tag-whats-new","authors-lindsey-liles"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.3 (Yoast SEO v26.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Chef&#039;s Secret Ingredient for Thanksgiving Dressing &#8211; 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