Stuffing Hunt 2011

This Saturday is known around our house as Friends Thanksgiving. We get together with out best friends in the Ames/Nevada metroplex, drink with abandon and stuff ourselves in the great American tradition. It is a much-anticipated annual event with a history that stretches clear back into the Clinton Administration. It's true. We had friends even before Facebook, kids.

It's pot luck, and somehow over the years, I've become the stuffing guy. Perhaps it's a nod to my professional skill at manufacturing starchy filler three days a week. Or it could be that I'm simply just so skilled. Some have called me the stuffing whisperer.

But, in an effort to keep from being too stuffy, I like to make a couple of new stuffing recipes each year. Usually I hunt them down myself, but this year, I thought I might tap the collective wisdom of Commentistan to see if you all have a delicious variation that would knock the festive orange and brown turkey novelty socks off Friends Thanksgiving.

I know this may not appeal to all of you. There's nothing much to fight about. Sure, we can get into what kind of stuffing was preferred by the Founding Fathers or Leon Trotsky, or how liberals use too damn much sage and conservatives skimp on the chestnuts, etc. But, honestly, I'm just looking for an excellent stuffing.  

I'd prefer bread-based, outside-the-bird stuffing, and the inclusion of meat/seafood is a plus. It would also be nice if it were something that could be largely prepared ahead of time and quickly combined for baking. Simplicity in those final, fateful steps is also a plus. (See drink with abandon, above.)

Thanks for giving. And if you're rolling your eyes at this point, fear not. We'll be returning to tour regularly scheduled rancor shortly.