Author Notes: This dressing is a classic in my family, and you can’t mess with it on pain of death. We gather around the kitchen table on Thanksgiving morning to cut up the ingredients and make the stuffing, and we always make extra, since nobody can keep their fingers out of the bowl. It’s really a traditional stuffing, so it’s key to use good ingredients — a firm white bread and fresh sage. We usually stuff the turkey with it, which adds additional moisture, but if you’re not going to stuff it, add a cup of chicken stock and a jar of oysters in their brine before baking. —Savour
Serves: 15 lb. turkey
Ingredients
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2
large loaves white bread, 2-3 days old
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1
cup salted butter
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1
cup minced onion
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1
cup chopped celery
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1
teaspoon salt
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1
teaspoon white pepper
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5
tablespoons minced fresh sage
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1
cup chicken stock (optional)
Directions
- Cut bread into 1 inch cubes, set aside into a large bowl.
- In a large and deep skillet, melt butter over low heat.
- Add onion and celery, saute slowly until the vegetables are translucent.
- Add salt and pepper and fresh sage and stir to combine.
- Take a deep breath. Your kitchen smells like Thanksgiving!
- Toss as many bread cubes as the pan will hold in the butter vegetable mixture.
- Pour contents of the skillet over the remaning bread cubes. Use your hands to toss until all the bread has some sagey buttery goodness on it.
- Taste for seasoning. Add more salt, sage or pepper to taste.
- Use the stuffing to stuff a turkey, and roast according to the instructions. If you don’t want to stuff the turkey, put stuffing in a casserole dish, pour about 1 c. good, flavorful chicken or turkey stock over the stuffing, and bake covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.