I miss having a real tree. When I was a kid we would go to the local tree farm and cut down a tree every year, was fun.

Stuffing is the bread mixture that is stuffed into the bird, i.e. turkey or spread on a meat that is then rolled into a spiral and roasted. Dressing is when the bread mixture is baked in a casserole dish in the oven.

Americans and Canadians enjoy corn in all forms. It is, naturally, one of our major crops so it is eaten often. It is one of the veggies I serve when I have first time guests and don't know what they like or dislike. Not everyone likes sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, squash, etc. So I will make one of those along with corn to be served.

We rarely eat beef but when we do serve it usually for guests, i.e. steak, we serve a baked potato (jacket potato), a roast will have roast potatoes, a pot roast will have mashed because the pot roast is cooked in a gravy to tenderize the meat. My sister-in-law in Kanawake, Quebec, always serves roast potatoes with the exception of Thanksgiving when she will make mashed. No dinner is complete until she sets the homemade cole slaw on the table. Could be part of her English/Irish heritage or her husband's 100% Native heritage.

As for dinner rolls, they are quite different than the Yorkshire pudding the English serve with the roast. The rolls or bread is served with the meal instead of placed on the table when you first sit down in a restaurant. They could be served to take some of the hunger off while you wait for your meal or at home added to the table with the meal because you didn't sit at the dinner table until the meal was served.

My thoughts on that is for example when growing up, dad came home from WWII and the factory he worked for closed up and moved south for cheaper labor. Without a job, he caddied to bring in money. Bread was served to help fill your stomach because food was expensive and not much of it was served at dinner time. So a tradition, at least in our home, was that bread was served with dinner. I'm sure this happened in a majority of homes in the US and Canada during the late 40's and 50's.

Agreed. Stuffing comes in all manner of ....stuffings'.

I might do that but not with a bread based stuffing. It would be another moist mix. I would call that a roulade. On the outside it is a crust.

Nopes. Nah. At best I would call that a side dish. If I wasn't stuffing the bird with the stuffing, I would roll it into balls and bake as a side dish to serve.
Dressing to me are spoonable or pourable.

Agree in a way. Love corn but it is not for a roast.
Gravy on the other hand.

Yup. Steak, salad and a jacket is rather good . So is steak chips and light veg perhaps with a sauce. It is not a cut that would do for roast beef.

Yup.
Not sure what that is. Is that a slow cooked braised dish ? A casserole /stew type of thing , in which case mash would be more appropriate or a quality type of bread . Roast potatoes would not.
Cole slaw ? Is there salad ? I can see a roasted turkey served with salad , new potatoes or mash and corn working. Cole slaw though = not for a roast.

My Irish mother nor my English dad would not put coleslaw with a roast. Neither would I.

Yorkshire puddings are nothing to do with bread . Yorky puds are only served with roast beef. Not any other sort of roast. ------> although those that love yorkshire puds might eat them with any roast and will also eat them cold with jam. Only other dish I can think of for yorky pud batter is for a toad-in-the-hole.

Agree. No restaurant should put down bread rolls before a main. They appear with a main. However they may appear for a soup starter although I would not feel that to be the ticket.

Yup. That is exactamonte the case & was the same for many UK and European homes. Food was rather scarce & expensive. My family was poor . Bread was a fill up staple but as you note, was served with decorum. In other words, it had its place as a part of a meal.

In far older terms, bread being offered was a break bread . An invitation to eat with family. That would have been the offering , the bread being broken as one sat for the meal.

We love these types of chats don't we Rete.

My Mother was from Yorkshire and when visiting relatives there we were always served Yorkshire Puddings as a 'starter' with a good beef gravy - then we would have the roast beef, roast potatoes and vegetables, followed by Yorkshire Pudding with jam and custard for dessert! The idea being that you would fill up on the Yorkshire Pudding as Beef was expensive.. and the leftover Yorkshire was used for dessert... waste not, want not.

My Mother made the best Yorkies - they rose inches above the pan, were succulent in the middle and crispy and light brown on the edges... and her toad-in-the-hole (served with sage and onion gravy) sublime.

Both dressing and stuffing are common terms for a bread stuffing in Canada, sometimes regardless of whether it's cooked in the bird or in foil.
"Don't get hung up on whether it's labeled stuffing or dressing, it's all basically the same beast."
What's the Difference Between Stuffing and Dressing? Allrecipes
Legend has it my paternal grandfather insisted on making oyster stuffing for his Christmas goose or turkey.

I had my best (the only good one in Canada) fish and chips since around 2003-04 last week. Proper cod and in batter.
It came with tartare sauce - which I understand for fish, but not fish as in fish and chips - and coleslaw which I understand even less.

Our family Boxing Day dinner was always cold turkey and bubble and squeak. In later years, cold turkey, potatoes, whatever other veg and leftover stuffing, cranberry sauce and crisps.

You've made me want fish and chips now, and I'm not usually a huge fan. Tartare sauce and salad is perfectly 'normal' in Oz.

Had a lovely dinner tonight - bubble and squeak with the leftover veggies from the roast Christmas dinner. I think I enjoyed it even more than the actual dinner.

I love Mint sauce on my turkey, does that make me a bad person?

I do this with a pork roast and with pork chops that are 1 inch thick. I make a pocket and insert the stuffing made with bread, sautéed apples, onion, spices into the pocket and using a tooth pick hold the pocket closed and then roast the chops in the oven.


Casseroles are a side dish when it is a single item ingredient that is baked, i.e. stuffing becomes dressing since it is not put into the bird, green bean casserole, sho pak corn casserole, etc. These dressings are spoonable.



I'd say that your a personal taste isn't it? I love corn, can't have it because of diabetes, but I sneak a spoonful once in a great while. We always serve two veggies at dinner and one must be a green veggie.
We also like gravy for the roast for the next day when the meat is chilled and you don't want to heat it up because it will further cook the meat which should be medium at least if not medium rare.



Pot roast is made with the cut of beef that is not tender when just roasted, i.e. brisket, rump roast, a shoulder cut. It is browned first and with the drippings you make your gravy, put the roast back into the pot and with the heat on low you cook it slowly for a few hours. In the US we will add carrots, a cut of tomato, sometimes pearl onions to the pot along with bay leaves, salt pepper, etc.


Cole slaw is a salad made from shredded cabbage. There are two types of salad type dressings you can use. One is mayonnaise based and the other is with vinegar and oil. This is my sister-in-law who serves it with every dinner regardless of what they have (if not soup). She makes her own dressing and it does has a mayo base.

Having watched all the Great British Baking Championship shows since 2012, I do know the difference now in terminology between our countries for bread rolls, cookies, puddings, etc. There is a very big difference in the terminology and our eating styles. Here restaurants serve a bread basket as soon as you sit down. A salad is served before the main entrée.

Not bad, just a bit odd.

My first Canadian Christmas was many years ago at my in-laws when they still lived in London, Ontario. My late M-I-L was not noted for her culinary skills, so I offered to cook Christmas dinner. I made a full roast turkey dinner the way I'd been taught by my mother. Roast turkey, roast potatoes, sweet potatoes roasted with orange butter (whip the juice and zest of a couple of oranges and a pinch of sugar into butter, chill, then put generous teaspoons on thickly sliced orange sweet potatoes (yams?) and roast until tender, turning once. When there's a bit of caramelisation starting around the edges, they're done), green beans dressed with fried bacon and onion (finely dice the bacon and onion and fry together until lovely and caramelised, scatter over the beans), and homemade gravy. I made the stuffing (pork, apple and sage) as a side dish (it is easier to roast a turkey unstuffed, with some herbs, butter, lemon and garlic thrown in the cavity to help with gravy flavouring). My M-I-L breezed through the kitchen and exclaimed about the amount of fresh herbs being used and was worried was that everything would "taste too strong". She didn't complain about the finished product though.

Since then, when we've all been in Vancouver, we've gone out for Christmas dinner! My husband's family have a breakfast tradition, so the boys on that side of the family all make English muffins with poached eggs, cheese and bacon, and pancakes with fresh apple compote. They do a mighty fine job. Stuffed with those delicious fixings, I can get through to dinner with just a mince pie or two to keep me going!

Tonight I am making a turkey "pie" with my leftovers. Turkey, sauteed zucchini, seasoned with chives and plenty of black pepper in a bechamel sauce flavoured with leftover gravy; thinly sliced leftover roast potatoes on top to make the "pie crust". Baked until golden. Served with leftover orange sweet potatoes (see recipe above) and a fresh green vegetable. YUM!

Well I do like a good gravy but it's not so much so a personal taste. I like corn . I grow it.
Roasts come with gravy in a gravy boat. Roasts would not come with corn....or mash. I'm now wondering and trying to remember if a roast might come with a little mashed swede to offset a roast parsnip.

Ah ! Browned braised /slow cooked casserole or stew. If lamb I like that with pearl barley added.

Oops. My bad use of the Queen's English. I know what coleslaw is and I make it in differing styles. Not for or with a roast dinner though.


Cookies are odd. Biscuits & cake . Puddings and desserts on the other hand. I haven't a sweet tooth so none of it interests me that much.

Yorkshire puds though remain not the same or similar as bread rolls . A dinner bread roll is with a main meal. A yorkshire pud is for roast beef which may well also see a dinner roll. A yorkshire pud may also come before a main roast beef meal. It would not happen with a roast turkey or other roast.

I personally would not serve a salad before a roast meal. I might serve a very simple form it afterward as a rest before dessert. That though is from what I was taught . Most folk these days might find that odd.

I might serve a small salad before, with or after another form of main meal . That would depend on the meal.