Name: Mason Hereford’s Thanksgiving Dressing
Yield: 8–10 servings
Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients: 11 oz. (6 to 8) hot dog buns, cut into ½-inch cubes (12 cups); 1¾ lb. whole chicken wings (about 6); 2 tsp. kosher salt (Diamond Crystal or about half as much Morton); 1 lb. loose breakfast sausage, like Jimmy Dean; 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the baking dish; 1 yellow onion, cut into small dice; 4 celery stalks, cut into small dice; 5 garlic cloves, minced; 1 cup buttermilk; 2 tbsp. finely chopped rosemary; 2 tbsp. finely chopped sage; 2 tbsp. chopped thyme; 1 tbsp. granulated chicken bouillon, preferably Totole brand (optional but optimal); 2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper; ½ tsp. cayenne pepper; 2 eggs

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. “Before, 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’m cooking for a big group, I try to get from point A to point B more reasonably,” says the chef, who owns the sandwich go-to Turkey and the Wolf and breakfast spot Molly’s Rise and Shine in the city’s Irish Channel neighborhood. For the past four years, he’s followed a formula he carefully developed to maximize flavor and minimize stress.

First things first, the bread: Hereford uses hot dog buns, a family trick. “They just dry out really well and get really light and crispy, and then it’s the perfect vehicle to soak up all that delicious stock and juice and seasonings,” he says. Just like in a sandwich, whatever bread you’re using lends a flavor to the dish. “With the hot dog buns, you can really let all the other ingredients do the talking, and that’s what you want with dressing.”

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. “Don’t spend all your time making it exact, either,” he says. “Just throw it all together and pre-season it and you’re good to go.”

The dish, also included in Hereford’s cookbook, Turkey and the Wolf: Flavor Trippin’ in New Orleans, will appear this year on his holiday table. “It’s my favorite dish that I make—and my second favorite dish on the table, after my mom’s burnt tomato casserole—and I think we should eat dressing more often than just at Thanksgiving.”

Mason Hereford’s Thanksgiving Dressing

Yield: 8–10 servings

Ingredients

- 11 oz. (6 to 8) hot dog buns, cut into ½-inch cubes (12 cups)
- 1¾ lb. whole chicken wings (about 6)
- 2 tsp. kosher salt (Diamond Crystal or about half as much Morton)
- 1 lb. loose breakfast sausage, like Jimmy Dean
- 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the baking dish
- 1 yellow onion, cut into small dice
- 4 celery stalks, cut into small dice
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 tbsp. finely chopped rosemary
- 2 tbsp. finely chopped sage
- 2 tbsp. chopped thyme
- 1 tbsp. granulated chicken bouillon, preferably Totole brand (optional but optimal)
- 2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
- 2 eggs

Preparation

Cook the bun cubes in a single layer on a sheet pan in a 250°F oven until they’re dry and brittle all the way through, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Take them out and set them aside.
Preheat your oven to 425°F. Season the chicken wings with 1 tsp. of the salt, put them in a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish along with 2 cups of water, and bake uncovered until they bust a little at the seams and the parts of the wings that aren’t submerged turn light cardboard brown, about 80 minutes.
Take out the casserole dish but leave the oven on. Tip the liquid into a measuring cup. You want at least ½ cup, so top it off with water if need be. Let the wings hang out until they’re cool enough to handle, then pick the meat off the bones into little bits and put them in the mixing bowl. Eat the skin as you go because it’s delicious but won’t be an awesome texture in the stuffing. (This can all be done a day or two ahead of time.)
Brown the sausage in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, stirring and breaking it up into little pieces, until it’s cooked through, about 5 minutes. Scoop the sausage into the mixing bowl, leaving any fat behind. Lower the heat to medium, add the butter, onion, celery, and garlic, and cook, stirring, until the onions are translucent and the celery has just a bit of crunch left, 10 minutes or so. Scrape it all into the mixing bowl.
Go ahead and add to the mixing bowl the remaining 1 tsp. salt, buttermilk, rosemary, sage, thyme, chicken powder, black pepper, cayenne, and eggs. Mix it all together, then add the bun cubes and mix until they’re all wet.
Wipe out and butter that casserole dish, add the stuffing mix in an even layer, and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and keep baking until the top gets nice and brown and the center is hot and steamy, 20 to 30 minutes more.
Serve the stuffing, but call it dressing.

Lindsey Liles joined Garden & Gun in 2020 after completing a master’s in literature in Scotland and a Fulbright grant in Brazil. The Arkansas native is G&G’s digital reporter, covering all aspects of the South, and she especially enjoys putting her biology background to use by writing about wildlife and conservation. She lives on Johns Island, South Carolina.

tags:

Mason Hereford’s Thanksgiving Dressing

Ingredients

Preparation

Related Stories:

Trending Stories: