Easy Oyster Dressing Recipe: Southern Thanksgiving Side Dish (2024)

FAQs

What is a good side dish for oysters? ›

There's nothing quite like fresh oysters on the half shell. Keep it simple by pairing with potatoes or fresh corn. Or if you're feeling bold, you can also recreate the experience of your favorite steakhouse with a classic surf and turf theme. Dishes like flank steak and beef lettuce wraps are sure to do the trick.

"Stuffing is cooked in the cavity of the turkey, so the juices soak into the ingredients, making it more flavorful. Dressing gets cooked on its own and needs extra liquid to make it flavorful." So stuffing is cooked inside the bird. Dressing is cooked outside the bird, usually in a casserole dish.

In modern times, oysters have remained a classic dish in the south. However, more recently, they're beginning to appear on Thanksgiving tables more and more frequently. As you celebrate this year, treat your family to a classic Thanksgiving dish!

Sweet soy sauce or teriyaki sauce are the best options. Stir Fries - When it comes to adding umami depth and spice to stir fried dishes like ramen and rice noodles, we recommend soy sauce or black bean paste as the perfect oyster sauce alternatives.

Oysters Rockefeller

First created at Antoine's Restaurant in New Orleans in 1899, this famous baked oyster dish was named for the Rockefeller family because of its incredibly rich sauce. Try making it at home with star chef Emeril Lagasse's expert recipe.

But for the Thanksgiving side dish in the South, the term dressing was adopted in place of stuffing, which was viewed as a crude term, during the Victorian era. Although dressing and stuffing are interchangeable terms, the signature ingredient of this Thanksgiving side dish in the South is cornbread.

The most popular Thanksgiving side in the U.S. is mashed potatoes, which reigns supreme in 9 states. The second most popular side is rolls, being favored by Utah, Florida, North Carolina, and West Virginia. 74% of Americans expect to be eating at least 4 side dishes on Thanksgiving.

People in the South say dressing, people in the North say stuffing. That's really the tall and short of it. I've heard some southerners decry the name stuffing, saying that the word itself is unpleasant. I've never had a personal issue with it, but I can see where that point of view comes from.

The original advice is that you should: Only eat oysters in the eight months of the year that contain the letter “R” in the name, which means September through April. The other four months of the year — May through August — are off limits.

Why It Works. Oysters add a savory, briny flavor to the stuffing without making it overly seafood-y. Drying the bread allows it to absorb more flavorful moisture, like chicken stock and oyster liquor. Fennel and tarragon blend beautifully with the oysters.

When not to order oysters? ›

You may have heard the saying that you should only eat oysters in months that contain the letter "r," meaning oysters harvested in the warmer summer months of May through August were not safe for consumption. However, oysters are now sold and consumed year-round with little to no worries.

Mignonette sauce is a condiment made from vinegar, minced shallots, and pepper and served with raw oysters and clams.

Oyster sauce is a thick, savory condiment common in Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Malay and Khmer cuisine that's made by cooking oysters. Traditionally, oysters are slowly simmered in water until the liquid caramelizes into a viscous, dark black-brown sauce.

It is made from oyster extract, but despite the name, it doesn't taste like fish at all. Instead, oyster sauce has an earthy, slightly sweet, and salty taste. It is a mixture of boiled down oyster juices (which have caramelized), along with salt and sugar; some versions include soy sauce thickened with cornstarch.