In case you have yet to have a turkey feast, or if you ate elsewhere and are looking to make some for yourself in order to eat leftovers for the next week, or if you're married to a turkey and stuffing aficionado like I am, here's an amazing stuffing recipe to try. Like most great family recipes, I stole it from my mom. :) Also, fair warning, this is NOT what I would call a healthy, low-calorie recipe. It's Thanksgiving, so a couple hundred calories either way probably isn't going to make too much of a difference.
There are three special ingredients that make this stuffing different than all the rest. They are:
Brownberry stuffing croutons. These are the best. You can make it with other types, but it won't taste as good.
Pork sausage. It really is a defining characteristic of this stuffing.
Milk. Yes, milk. Not chicken or turkey broth, or water, or anything else. Milk.
So. The ingredients. This recipe is per 12lbs of turkey, so adjust accordingly.
1 package Brownberry Sage and Onion stuffing croutons
1 large yellow onion
1 stalk celery (about 8-10 ribs)
1/2 package Jimmy Dean regular pork sausage
2 sticks butter
Rubbed Sage
S&P
Approx. 1 quart milk
The only thing in that list that doesn't scale according to how many bags of stuffing you use is the butter. I made two bags of stuffing with our turkey two weeks ago, and I still only used 2 sticks of butter. Basically, before you pour the vegetable/sausage mix over the stuffing, you want there to be some liquid in the bottom of the pan. If you need to add 3 sticks of butter, go for it. Honestly, there really isn't such a thing as too much butter in this recipe. Healthy doesn't count on holidays, right?? ;)
Start off by chopping the onion and celery into small pieces. I use an As-Seen-On-TV onion chopper that I got at Target for $20. It is arguably the best kitchen gadget I own, and it will save time and onion tears!
Dump all the chopped up veggies into a sauce pan, and then add a stick of butter.
Cook down the celery and onions until they are almost soft, and it's difficult to determine whether each individual piece is celery or onion. If you like a crunchier stuffing, or you're stuffing this into a bird, you can leave them a little less cooked. However, Chris doesn't like celery unless it's unrecognizable, so I generally cook the veggies down until almost mush.
Make sure to keep the heat at medium or below, and stir very frequently. The goal is to cook/simmer the veggies, and if you leave them sit while cooking them in butter, you will fry them, which makes them crunch and defeats the purpose of cooking them. About 2/3 of the way through, when the onion is soft but the celery is still a little crunchy, and the first stick of butter has basically evaporated, add the second stick of butter. At the end of the cooking process, you want there to be at least a couple tablespoons of liquid left to help moisten the stuffing.
Next, brown the sausage, breaking it up VERY well. Make a chopping motion with your spatula as you cook it, breaking up any pieces that are dime-sized or bigger. This stuffing is best when it is one homogeneous food, and that is best done with little pieces. Then, add the sausage to the veggies and cook them together for a minute or two.
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| Really, this is a picture of the sausage and not cat food. Though the cat thinks this is his food, too... |
Mmmm.... Finally, empty the bag(s) of stuffing croutons into a large container. When I made this with turkey the other day, I mixed the stuffing in the turkey pan, and then transferred the mixed stuffing into a mixing bowl. You will need about twice as much space as stuffing for mixing room. If you are cooking your turkey in a disposable foil pan, it might make sense to buy a second one to make the stuffing in, or wash it out after mixing up the stuffing. THESE are the famed croutons. Difficult to find, but so totally worth it:
Dump the veggie/sausage mix over the croutons and mix well.
Okay. Now comes the tough part. Moistening stuffing is an imperfect art. The liquid will seep through the croutons almost immediately, and only by scooping up the stuffing on the bottom and smearing it over the top will you be able to evenly distribute the liquid. The routine is basically to pour a bunch of milk over the top, mix for about 2 minutes, then repeat. It definitely takes some time and arm muscles, and you can't be a pansy about it. You will likely get stuffing up to your elbows. Just be okay with it. This stuffing is fully cooked right now, so you can eat it, and you don't have to worry about kitchen food safety until you start to put it in the bird.
In the midst of the stirring/moistening process, begin to add just a ridiculous amount of sage. Personally, we like our stuffing almost spicy with sage, but the best part about this recipe is that it is versatile enough that you can add as much or as little sage as you want, and it won't change the consistency much. Add some salt and pepper as well.
Finally, determine when the stuffing is the 'right' consistency for what you're using it for. If you're stuffing a turkey with it, you can leave it a little more crumbly, as the juices from the turkey will seep in and help aid in moistening, as well as infusing it with that traditional turkey flavor. If you're baking it in a casserole dish (which is what we did tonight), then I recommend adding a little more milk so that it doesn't get too dry in the oven. You want to have the stuffing moldable, but not soggy. This is what it should look like:
It should stick to the spoon, but you can still see the general shape of the croutons. Make sure to taste test!! It's cooked, and it hasn't touched turkey yet, so you're good to go with your tasting fork/spoon.
Add your stuffing to your turkey, or cook it in a casserole dish. When we cook a turkey, we generally cook 1 bag more stuffing than necessary. We stuff the bird, and then we put about 1 bag worth in a covered casserole dish, with the turkey neck buried within so it still gets a turkey flavor to it. In the casserole, cook the stuffing at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (without neck) or until a meat thermometer inserted right next to the neck reads 165 degrees (food-safe temp for salmonella-bearing foods like poultry).
Enjoy!!
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| Mmmm stuffing... |
Have a wonderful holiday season!!
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