YOU HAVE THE LAST WORD!Celery Sage Bread Stuffing
(And the Gravy that makes it soooooo wonderful)If you ask the average person what is it about Thanksgiving dinner that makes it so memorable, Most (over 50%) placed the Turkey as their favorite part of the holiday feast. The runner-up (with about 25% of the vote) was stuffing. I would've voted for the runner-up! Sure, turkey, mashed potatoes, glazed yams and all the rest are essential to the feast, but for my money, the dressing IS the REAL meal (oh, and don't forget that gravy!). Everything else is just. . well . . dressing!
Please, please don't purchase those gagya stuffing crumbs from the supermarket - just ordinary bread with better flavor, texture, and price. Simple ingredients and simple preparation.
The Basic Recipe
* 2 sticks (a half-pound) of butter
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 6 tsp. thyme
* 2 tsp. sage
* 2 tsp. salt
* 4 tsp. black pepper
* 2-1/2 lbs of bread, cubed or torn
* 1 bunch celery, chopped
* 2 cups cold milk
* 2 cups cold brothMelt butter in saucepan and sauté onion, thyme, sage, salt and pepper until the onions are barely tender. Place celery (uncooked) and bread cubes in a very large bowl.
Remove onion/butter/herb blend from the heat and add broth and milk to it. Pour mixture over bread/celery mix, and blend thoroughly and gently with a wooden spoon or wooden spatula.
Stuff bird (rub the cavity with lemon first) and roast in a preheated oven (20 minutes per pound at 325o for turkey, 30 minutes per pound for chicken; baste frequently in either case). Bake excess alone in foil or casserole for 30-45 minutes, depending on desired crust (alternately, the entire batch can be baked this way).
The recipe makes a gallon of stuffing, enough for a family of eight as part of a holiday feast. The basic recipe assumes canned chicken stock. However, fresh stock is much tastier (and so much cheaper!). If you've got fresh (unsalted) stock handy, add an extra teaspoon of salt.
Notes and Options
This is a basic ``two-loaf'' recipe; two loaves of most commercially available breads total about 2.5 lbs (weight is given as a guideline to those using many different breads, or homemade bread). One large onion is good for about 2 cups chopped, and 1 bundle of celery makes 3 cups chopped. A turkey-sized roasting pan, devoid of poultry, can handle a heaped-up-piled-up double batch if you're seriously into your stuffing.Don't use dried ``stuffing crumbs.'' It's needlessly expensive! However, the thyme/sage blend can be replaced with a quality brand of Poultry Seasoning with no loss in flavor. What's in ``poultry seasoning'' varies widely from brand to brand (some cheaper brands have a lot of cheap ``filler'' herbs). McCormick's is a very good blend which favors thyme.
Optional Seasonings: The addition of any or all of a pinch of marjoram, 4 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tsp. celery seed, 1 1/2 cups parsley, 3/4 cups bacon bits, 1/4 tsp. cayenne, 1/2 cup chopped leeks (replacing onion entirely), 1 tsp. seasoning salt (replacing part of the plain salt), 1 tbsp Chinese Hot Oil, or 4 tbsp olive oil will certainly enhance it.
You want more.. Further Additions: Putting a little extra substance in the stuffing is good. Try an egg, or 1 cup chopped mushrooms, 1 cup of diced ham, 1/2 cup of chopped nuts, or 3 slices of chopped, crisp bacon. Diced, cooked giblets work well, but they are better used in making gravy (see below). A half-cup of hot italian sausage (chopped as thoroughly as possible) does nice things, too.
Chilled Stuffing: Make the ``raw'' (unbaked) stuffing a day in advance, and keep chilled in the refrigerator overnight before stuffing the bird and/or baking the stuffing. This allows the flavors to blend.
Multi-Bread: You can go crazy with bread! Use it all, stale biscuits (the unsweetened white-flour pastry-kind, for those of you outside the U.S.), bagels, soft pretzels, wheat, pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, saltines, and anything else even vaguely bread-like works. Clean out the fridge! Whether to toast the bread first is a matter of personal taste. If you enjoy home-baking, make the bread fresh; it will VASTLY improve the stuffing! Here is where I get into trouble with my rebel neighbors, a cornbread blend is best for chicken or pork.
Potato Chip Stuffing: Don't knock this 'till you try it, and the kids will love you for it if you remember to tell them what they're eating: Add 1/2 cup crushed potato chips and 1/2 cup broken pretzel sticks to the sauté at the same time the broth is added. Add a little extra milk, too.
Stuffin Muffins: Instead of baking in casserole or bird, bake stuffing in muffin pans; one batch will make about 30 half-cup croquettes. Reduce baking time by 15 minutes.
Single Guy/Girl Stuffing * 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 1/2 stick of butter
* 2 tsp. thyme
* 1 tsp. black pepper
* 2 tsp. salt
* Half-loaf of bread, cubed or torn
* 3 stalks of celery, chopped
* 1 cup cold milk or brothNo, not for stuffing dead bachelors; for feeding live ones. This is a variant of the main recipe scaled-down to one-fourth of the normal size, for bachelors, recluses, gamers, and other shut-ins. When scaled down to this level, the dressing can be prepared using a small saucepan and a two-quart mixing bowl, and baked in any small oven-safe pan.
Follow the instructions for the normal recipe. Makes a good dirt-cheap lunch if you toss on some leftover chicken meat and a little gravy, or a side dish in a holiday-dinner-for-two, or dinner-for-one with leftovers.
A Near Perfect Giblet Gravy
* giblets and/or neck parts
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 1/2 tsp. Thyme
* 1 tsp. black pepper
* 1/2 cup turkey fat (from pan drippings)
* 1/2 cup flourPlace giblets and/or neck in a pot with onion, thyme and pepper. Add six cups cold water. Bring to a boil and skim, then simmer, covered, while the bird roasts.
When the bird is done, strain broth into a bowl and discard solids. Salt broth at this point if desired; 1.5 tsp. is recommended (about half the salt of canned broth). Add drippings or milk to the giblet broth to bring it back up to 6 cups of fluid.
Collect 1/2 cup of pan drippings from the bird and make a roux with the flour. Cook the roux lightly and add the broth (slowly, a half cup at a time) to it to make gravy.
Serve immediately; giblet gravy is the essential accompaniment to dressing, sliced turkey, and mashed potatoes!
FRESH CRANBERRY ORANGE SAUCE In a 4 quart kettle combine sugar, cloves, cinnamon, orange juice and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Discard cloves. Add cranberries; bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Discard cinnamon. Add orange rind.
- 2 c. sugar
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 1/2 c. water
- 2 tsp. grated orange rind
- 4 whole cloves
- 1/2 c. orange juice
- 4 c. fresh cranberries
I'd certainly consider maiming, at a minimum.
I think I'm gonna try "Drunken Turkey" this year.
My ma is doing a regular bird but I'm going to get a small
one and put it over a large Foster's lager can on the BBq.
Should be good.
I love Gut Gravy but no one around here will eat it.
Dessert this year will be Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake
I agree with you, the stuffing is about the most memorable part of the meal.
Happy Thanksgiving, Chef Carlo. Thanks for sharing your recipes with us and for keeping me on your ping list. :-)
We toss the heels, and any other bread that goes stale, into the freezer throughout the year. It comes out for stuffing, and not just at holidays.
I would've voted for the runner-up!
Same here, with the FRESH CRANBERRY ORANGE SAUCE at #2...LOTS of relish; the turkey is #3.
Of course, when possible, that is WILD turkey for the holidays.
Store boughts get cooked a few other times throughout the year. (I'm a dark meat man; I HATE the way they have perverted the "dark" meat on tame birds! Anymore, it is just 'light' and 'lighter'.) It is a great excuse for stuffing and cranberry relish. BTW, try adding some chopped walnuts to the cranberry-orange.
Wow, this is great. Thanks Carlo.
Thanks much!
Momma used to say that some folks were as full of cr@p as a Christmas turkey. I never understood why she would say that until I asked her how to make stuffing. Essentially, stuffing is a bunch of cr@p in a pan. You can put almost anything in it you want.
The real key to good stuffing is that it should be runny when it goes into the oven. Stick your hands down in it. When you lift them out, the stuffing should run through your fingers like mud. If it starts out dry, it will end up dry. You can always cook it a bit longer if it's too moist, but you can't add moisture to it.
Momma (and mine) basic stuffing goes like this. (BTW, I use a big pan 'cause my family likes stuffing. I use one of those big aluminium pans about 14 x 18 x 6 inches. If the whole family is there, I may just use an aluminum broiler pan)
- Cook up enough corn bread to fill your pan about half full when crumbled. Add a little dry white bread if you like. Not necessary, but some folks think it is.
- Crack a few eggs into it. Maybe three or four for a big pan. Don't worry about the yokes, they'll break up when you mix it up later.
- Add a couple of cans of chicken broth and two or three cans of cream of whatever. (cream of chicken, mushroom, onion, whatever sounds good to you, I don't think I'd use cream of broccoli but that's up to you)
That's the basic recipe. Cornbread, broth, eggs, cream of whatever soup. After that, it's personal taste. You could:
- Add some celery, diced onions, what ever you want. Mushrooms work too. You can saute 'em if you like. I usually don't bother, they'll cook enough later. I like to add red or yellow peppers. Never green.
- A can of whole kernel corn and/or some chopped waterchestnuts will give a nice crunch. Some like 'em, some don't. Chopped nuts work too.
- Fry up some pork sausage, at least a pound, maybe two. crumble it in. (if you use sage sausage, you might wish to skip the sage spice). I like the hot sausage myself.
- Spices. Pepper, salt, sage, thyme, or just use poultry seasoning. What ever you feel like.
- Throw in some oysters if you like.
- By this time your pan should be getting pretty full, if not, add some more stuff.
Now stick your hands down into. Stir all that stuff up. Let it run through your fingers. Have fun, like making mud pies. When it has the consistency of mud, it's ready to bake. If it's too thin, add some cornbread or more stuff. If it's too dry, add some more whatever soup.
Put it in a 350-375 oven. After about an hour, check it with a tooth pick. If the tooth pick comes out clean, it's ready.
Making stuffing is easy. Just remember what Momma said about some folks, whatever you feel like put it in (within reason, of course) and make sure it's like mud when it goes in the oven.
Thanks for the yummy recipes!
These all sound quite delicious. My mouth is watering, and I'm not hungry. :-(
I'll be working on Thanksgiving day, so will miss out on turkey and stuffing this year. I'll just have to be satified reading your wonderful recipes.
Great stuff here...thanks a million!!
Curiously, I have a XXX film with this exact title.
Thanks for posting this as I did prepared stuffing in advance (first time) and was fearful if it would become too dry. Thought I'd add some broth before stuffing the bird (which is outside on my deck in brine). Temps in NY tonight are supposed to go below freezing and I pray my brine doesn't freeze as well.
Wish I had room in my refrigeratorS but coming from an Italian family, I'd be lucky to fit one grape with all the appetizers and side dishes waiting to be heated.