Good morning, it’s Friday. Once more for the people in the back – IT’S FRIDAY!!
We are now less than a week out from Thanksgiving, or T-minus six days, to be exact. There are a number of things that you can make ahead of the big day to ease the day-of to-do list, including, as it turns out, stuffing.
Stuffing, as an aside, is pretty much the only thing I really like on the Thanksgiving table. I mean, yes, turkey, sure. (I’m team dark meat). But you can have that any time of the year.
The so-called “special” things that traditionally differentiate this meal from others – cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top etc. – I could take of leave, generally speaking.
But stuffing is a treat. I’m talking about homemade stuffing with a good mix of soft and crunchy bits, maybe with some celery and sausage thrown in. I like oysters, but prefer them raw and not in my stuffing, please and thanks. Also, boxed stuffing is a hard no.
I am not alone in my love of stuffing, apparently. According to Campbell’s annual State of the Sides report, stuffing is No. 1 for almost all of America – except New York (??), which inexplicably (to me) prefers mac and cheese.
The practice of stuffing aromatics, vegetables, and grains into meats – including, but not limited to, turkeys – dates back centuries.
The earliest written mention of poultry served with a side of flavored bread appears on a 3,700 year-old clay tablet found in Iraq. But the art of stuffing appears to have been perfected by the ancient Romans – a Roman cookbook called Apicius’ De Re Coquinaria, features recipes for stuffed chicken, hare, pig, and even dormouse.
An important distinction: “Stuffing” is what’s cooked inside the bird, while “dressing” is usually baked separately. The terms are often used interchangeably, however, with the former being more common in the North, while the latter is distinctly Southern. Also more common in the South is the use of cornbread instead of regular stale white bread.
Cooking stuffing inside the bird definitely renders a moister and more flavorful end result, thanks to all the juices and rendered turkey fat. But doing so also presents food safety challenges, as the internal temperature needs to reach 165 degrees in avoid bacterial growth. (This is actually the case for all leftovers, too, so be sure not to skimp when you reheat).
The reheating mention brings us back to the original premise of this post, which is that you can actually make your stuffing quite a bit ahead of time.
You have a few options here: make the whole thing all the way through a few days before Thanksgiving and keep it in the fridge (up to three days is the rule of thumb), make the whole thing all the way through and pop it in the freezer (this can be done up to three months ahead of time), or assemble all the ingredients but don’t actually cook them, doing so on the day of (you can freeze this version, too, if that’s convenient and you’ve got the room).
Any of the aforementioned choices do require you to reheat and/or bake the stuffing (actually, technically this is dressing we’re talking about here) before serving it, so making it ahead doesn’t necessary save you on oven space. But it does cut down on prep time, which is a big plus.
We’ll see mostly cloudy skies today, with temperatures in the low-to-mid 40s. The weekend seems fairly tame so far from a water perspective, with a mix of clouds and sun on both days and temperatures topping out in the mid-40s. I’ll take it.
In the headlines…
President Trump accused a group of Democratic lawmakers of sedition and said their behavior was “punishable by death.” Their crime? Recording a video that reminded members of the military that they are not supposed to obey illegal orders.
The six lawmakers, all of whom have served in the military or intelligence community, called Trump’s remarks dangerous and said they amounted to threats against elected officials.
Speaker Mike Johnson defended Trump’s declaration that some congressional Democrats engaged in “sedition” after the president suggested those Democrats should be executed, saying their behavior had been “wildly inappropriate.”
A federal judge in Washington temporarily blocked the Trump administration from maintaining more than 2,000 members of the National Guard deployed to D.C.’s streets, finding the city was likely to succeed in arguing the deployment was illegal.
Republican members of Congress pushed back yesterday — albeit lightly — on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s controversial update to its webpage on vaccines and autism.
An unlikely mix of Republicans and Democrats paid tribute to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who helped shape the nation’s aggressive response to terrorism after Sept. 11, 2001, and transformed his office into a powerful platform to drive policy.
Led by former President George W. Bush, the mourners who gathered at the Washington National Cathedral included an array of veterans of their administration as well as Democrats who once despised Cheney but admired his outspoken opposition to Trump.
Neither the president nor Vice President J.D. Vance were invited to the funeral. But Rachel Maddow, the liberal television host who used to skewer Cheney for his support of the Iraq war, was on hand as a guest of the family.
The willingness of congressional Republicans to defy Trump and back legislation requiring the disclosure of the Jeffrey Epstein files was the clearest evidence yet that they’re starting to look beyond his tenure to their self-preservation in midterm elections in 2026.
The federal government shutdown has left Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the political gutter. The Brooklyn Democrat’s favorability rating among New Yorkers is at its lowest level in two decades, a new poll shows.
Former President Barack Obama is embracing his role as mentor-in-chief, huddling with nearly three dozen freshman House Democrats at the Capitol Hill home of Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) at an event this week hosted by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, 72, a Democratic trailblazer who was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, said yesterday that she would not seek re-election in 2026 at the completion of her 16th term.
Velazquez’s surprise decision against a 17th term sparked instantaneous debate over who would become her successor, though she didn’t name a chosen candidate to replace her, saying she didn’t want to “put my finger on the scale” so early in the process.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani responded to her retirement announcement by posting a photo of them together on X. “Your grace and fight showed us what real leadership looks like,” he wrote.
Justice Democrats, which helped power Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s rise to Congress in 2018, will test New York City’s political climate by throwing its support behind an insurgent challenger to Rep. Adriano Espaillat: Organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said a plan to address the state’s “housing crisis” by building more than 2,000 housing units on the state-owned campus of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in eastern Queens was approved by the Public Authorities Control Board.
New York’s state comptroller, who oversees one of the country’s largest pension funds, has written to Lowe’s and three other companies to ask how they are adjusting to and addressing tariffs imposed by President Trump.
Khurram Dara, a 36-year-old crypto lawyer, is running for state attorney general, seeking the Republican nomination to topple Democratic incumbent Letitia James.
Robert Smullen, a Republican member of the state Assembly, has launched a campaign for Congress to represent the North Country district being vacated by U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is running for governor.
Stefanik has warned that Hochul’s “dangerous” pro-migrant policies are “spilling over state lines,” after an illegal immigrant truck driver — with a New York commercial license — was involved in a deadly crash in Indiana.
Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams is weighing new appointments to the Rent Guidelines Board in an effort to block Mamdani’s pledged rent freeze, but finding candidates willing to take the post could be a tall order.
After months of trading attacks, Trump and Mamdani will meet today at the White House. The outcome of their meeting — and their relationship going forward — could be hugely consequential for the nation’s largest city, and the dynamics are complicated.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said yesterday that “it speaks volumes” that a “communist” was going to the White House. (Mamdani is a democratic socialist.)
Leavitt was coy about what to expect at the meeting of two men who have been at odds as insiders speculate whether Trump plans to treat Mamdani to a humiliating spectacle similar to his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February.
Mamdani wants to “speak plainly” to Trump about making New York City more affordable during their high-stakes White House meeting, as the political world waits to see if it’ll implode bigly or end up surprisingly cordial.
Political advisers are wrestling with whether Mamdani’s success getting young people to the polls represents a paradigm shift or a moment that can’t be recreated.
Mamdani dodged questions over disagreements with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, but softened his tone on some controversial crime policies after picking her as top cop.
Adams’ administration came out swinging against Airbnb’s multi-million dollar effort to dilute the city’s strict short-term rental laws — warning it’ll lead to inflated rents and exacerbate the housing supply crisis.
The Randall’s Island soccer fields that hosted a massive tent city at the height of the migrant crisis have finally been restored back to their original state — at a cost to taxpayers of $5 million.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa is facing accusations of stiffing workers on his failed New York City mayoral campaign out of thousands of dollars in back pay.
New York City could lose up to $109 million a year for supportive housing under a new Trump administration policy that could put thousands of once-homeless New Yorkers back on the street.
Thanksgiving is still a few days off, but the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York has been preparing and delivering food at holiday volumes for nearly one month.
Hearst Newspapers and USLege unveiled Capitol Confidential Pro, a first-of-its-kind platform for policy and government professionals.
Despite changes in management, don’t expect many changes to the 64th-oldest road race in the world – the Troy Turkey Troy – next Thursday.
Baristas at a Starbucks on Albany’s New Scotland Avenue joined the weeklong strike against the company. It’s the first local shop to take part in a job action the union says is aimed at protesting slow labor negotiations.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
