Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Stuffing

My stuffing is made the old fashioned way that I learned from my mother and she learned from her mother. It uses plain old white bread, peppers, onions, poultry seasoning and chicken stock.

I no longer place stuffing in the turkey for two reasons: it tends to get greasy from all the turkey fat and stuffing in a raw turkey increase the chances of bacteria especially if you pre-stuff and refrigerate the turkey. This recipe is baked in a buttered casserole which produces a nice crust.

And as for the photo - I really miss Bell's Poultry Seasoning. This is what I grew up with and it is almost impossible to find here in Chicago.






INGREDIENTS:

2 loaves of white bread
1 large onion, chopped
2 large green peppers, chopped
8 large sage leaves, chopped
1 tsp black pepper
3 tbsp poultry seasoning
6 cups chicken stock (1 large can)
1/2 cup Butter (1 stick)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. You can choose to let the bread dry out in the oven overnight or not. I've made it both ways.

2. In a very large bowl, tear or break bread into small pieces.

3. Over medium heat, cook the onions and peppers in 2 tbsp butter until soft. Remove from heat.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

5. Place peppers and onions in bowl with bread. Add sage, pepper and poultry seasoning.

6. Begin to mix with hands and add 1 cup chicken stock at a time. The mixture should not be too dry - the stuffing will lose moisture as it bakes. You may not need all the chicken stock.

7. Butter a large casserole or 13 x 9 x 2 pan very well with butter.

8. Place stuffing in the casserole. Any remaining butter can be placed on top of the stuffing.

9. Bake for 30 - 45 minutes depending on how much of a crust and how brown you want it.