Saturday, November 24, 2012

Stuffin' Saturday: My Mama's Mama's Mama's Stuffin'

Most families have a few traditions that come along with the holiday season....snapping the wish bone from last year's turkey, telling a bazillion funny stories, Black Friday shopping gameplan strategizing.

One of mine is to look forward to the Thanksgiving meal. It has tasted the same since I can remember ..... amazing! A major link to the chain of thanksgiving meal perfection is my Mom's stuffing. It is a recipe that she learned from her mom, who learned it from her mom, who probably learned it from her mom...you get the idea.

So we thought, why should the world be deprived of such deliciousness. I am passing it along to you to share with your daughter's daughters daughters.

Start with 1.5 bags of Brownberry Stuffing- sage and onion flavor (looks like croutons, the photo below is a double batch):

Next you will need a pot to boil up a broth. Dice up 4 to 5 celery stalks and 1/2 onion and add to the pot. Add 4 cups water, salt and pepper and add the turkey parts from the inside of your turkey (the neck, liver, heart etc....kind of gross, but it gives good flavor. Just do it.)

Bring it to a boil and let cook until the "parts" are tender:


In the meantime, head to the bowl of dry stuffing. Chop up 2 peeled Braeburn apples and 2 handfuls of raisins and mix all together:

Yum! Ok, back to the broth. It should take about 20-30 minutes or so to cook down, when its ready you can remove the "parts" and save the liver and neck for a little later:

Take the turkey liver and grate it right into the dry stuffing mix. I know what you may be thinking,"That sounds NOT yummy, I wish not to do this." But just remember that my mama's mama's mama did it this way and it tastes delicious. You don't want to mess with her multi-generational tried and true recipe, now do you?
Grab the pot of broth/veggies and spoon out the veggies into the stuffing bowl....mix it all together.

Now comes the tricky part....the liquid to dry stuffing ratio. My mom said you don't want it too dry or too soggy. Rock it Goldilocks and the Three Bears style....just right.

Start pouring the broth over the dry stuffing and mix together. Keep going until you feel like all croutons have soaked in some liquid. You shouldn't hear any crunchy croutons along side your bowl as you mix. But don't add so much that it becomes soggy...and you might not need the whole pot of liquid, just use your best spidey-sense instincts. That's what all the mama's of the past did.

Smelling pretty good already, isn't it??
Let's keep going. Beat one egg and add it into the fun...combine thoroughly.

If you feel like you need a bit more liquid, my Mama said you can add a little milk. She always does.

Alright, get the bird ready and start stuffin'....stuff into both open ends of the bird and secure off with rope or wire to keep it in as needed:

Almost done! Remember that neck that we boiled and the set aside? Now's the time to put that bad boy into action! My mama always uses it to secure off the main opening of the birdie....so you should too:

And there you go...it is for sure the BEST stuffing on Planet Earth and I hope you give it a try during your next big turkey feast. Your taste buds and all dinner guests will thank you!

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