OT Fab Stuffing recipe to share, please?

My stuffing is only able to keep a starving person alive, but a person not
starving would walk right by it. Can any of you fabulous quilters/kitchen
goddesses tell me some secrets to delicious stuffing?
I know quilters are also great cooks.

Cyndi

From: "QuiltShopHopper"

.... some secrets to delicious stuffing .....

If you are talking stuffing for poultry, there are a few ways to make it
taste really great. First, mix the giblets with onion, garlic, fresh celery
tops & bottoms (the good parts get cut up and put in the stuffing), FRESH
parsley, rosemary, sage & thyme if available (if not then use the regular stuff
in the little jars) and salt & pepper in a goodly amount of water. If you have
a carrot or two hanging around, you can toss them in too but I don't out them
in the stuffing itself! Simmer everything -- *simmer* not boiil -- for as
long as possible but at least four hours. Sometimes I will simmer the stuff
overnight!
Once that is done, strain out the liquid and use THAT as the liquid for
making your stuffing. If there is any of the liquid left (and there should
be), use it in the gravy and any left after that should get frozen for use in
soups or stews, etc. I also save the giblets (everything else gets tossed in
the garbage) and cut them up and divide them between the stuffing and the
gravy. I also add REAL butter -- never margarine -- to the bread crumb base
along with mushrooms and water chestnuts.
I am usually making stuffing when there is a BIG family "do" and I don't
have the time to make my own bread crumb base so I use Mrs. Cubbison's
cornbread stuffing. I like it so much that I will buy boxes of it when I am in
Lizard Land and bring it back to Magnoliaville cuz' it's not available here!
If you don't want to go through the hassel of cooking the giblets, you can
always use canned chicken broth. It's OK but certainly not as good as the
"real" broth you make yourself. CiaoMeow ^;;^
..

PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ Queen of Kitties
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their
WHISKERS!!
Nothing is complete without a few cat hairs!

I like to add chopped up granny smith apples (the green ones--peeled of
course), mushrooms, celery, onions, grated carrots. I usually use the
Stovetop stuffing but add these extra things.
Kathy in CA

"QuiltShopHopper" wrote in message
...
My stuffing is only able to keep a starving person alive, but a person not
starving would walk right by it. Can any of you fabulous quilters/kitchen
goddesses tell me some secrets to delicious stuffing?
I know quilters are also great cooks.

Cyndi

QuiltShopHopper wrote:

My stuffing is only able to keep a starving person alive, but a person not
starving would walk right by it. Can any of you fabulous quilters/kitchen
goddesses tell me some secrets to delicious stuffing?
I know quilters are also great cooks.

Cyndi

This one is not for the dieters... except as a special treat!

Fills one small/medium sized turkey or a big chicken quite nicely...

1/2 lb good butchers old fashioned pork or beef sausage meat, at least
90% meat
1 apple
1 onion
2 thick slices wholemeal bread
1 teacup pinhead oatmeal
1 large egg
2 cloves of garlic
8 large prunes, chopped
1 teacup walnut pieces
a couple of teaspoons of Herb de Provence mix

You need a food processor...

Whizz the bread to breadcrumbs, and add the onion, garlic, apple, and
egg. Whizz to a sloppy mix... Add the sausage meat, a bit at a time,
and make sure it is well mixed in. Add the oatmeal and the herbs. Mix
the chopped prunes and nuts in by hand. Use to stuff the cavity* of the
bird: it will be a bit sloppy, but it firms up well in cooking, thanks
to the oatmeal. Once the bird is stuffed, weigh it and calculate the
cooking time for the stuffed bird.

If you have the liver from the bird, this makes a very fine addition to
the stuffing: just whizz it in raw along with the sausage meat.
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

*I have no patience with folk who say you must not stuff the cavity of
the bird. I have always done this, as did my mother and grandmother
before me, and we have never caused ill to anyone doing it. Nor have we
suffered from an undercooked bird or undercooked stuffing. We have
never suffered from over cooked, dry outside of bird either. My best
way is to put the bird on a trivet, pour a bottle of white wine or
strong dry cider (4% or stronger) over and round the bird, cover it with
a layer of greaseproof paper, and seal it down well with foil. You can
peel this off for the last half hour to allow the bird to brown, and use
the liquid from round the bird to make the gravy.

This stuffing is also very good in a goose, or with boned and rolled
pork joints. With the pork, cooking it like the bird above will give
excellent results but no crackling. If you want crackling, roast the
pork open and dry, and deglaze the roasting tin with the bottle of wine
to make the gravy.

If you want to do the goose, roast that open, and keep draining off the
fat! If you roast it covered, the fat will penetrate the flesh and make
the whole thing greasy and unpleasant. Prick the goose skin all over,
being careful not to stab the flesh. You can save the goose fat for the
winter, when you will spread it on brown paper, sew the kids up in it,
and thus stave off winter ills for another year. OK by spring they'll
be a bit rancid, but kids are like that anyway...

Here's my recipe for dressing. Even my picky DIL eats it.

1 bag Pepperidge Farms cubed seasoned dressing
1 box Pepperidge Farms Onion and Garlic salad croutons
1 large onion, diced
3 to 4 ribs celery, finely sliced
1 stick butter
cooked meat from neck and heart, minced fine
canned chicken stock
4 eggs

Simmer the neck and heart, cool slightly and mince fine. In a very large
bowl toss the dressing croutons and the salad croutons together. Saute the
onions and celery in the stick of butter until they're very well cooked.
Pour the onion/celery mix over the croutons, add the meat and toss until
well mixed. Add the eggs and enough chicken stock to make desired degree of
moistness. Dump into greased 5 quart casserole and bake.

Kathy in Ks.


"QuiltShopHopper" wrote in message
...
My stuffing is only able to keep a starving person alive, but a person not
starving would walk right by it. Can any of you fabulous quilters/kitchen
goddesses tell me some secrets to delicious stuffing?
I know quilters are also great cooks.

Cyndi

Two cool tricks for stuffing.
If you want to improve its color just a bit, a little (maybe a teaspoon)
or Kitchen Bouquet will give it a great tan instead of looking sort of pale.
One year, I got the wild idea of baking my stuffing in muffin pans. It
was easy to serve and worked great for freezing. We could thaw and heat
whatever amount was needed. Polly


"K. Reece" wrote in message
...
Here's my recipe for dressing. Even my picky DIL eats it.

1 bag Pepperidge Farms cubed seasoned dressing
1 box Pepperidge Farms Onion and Garlic salad croutons
1 large onion, diced
3 to 4 ribs celery, finely sliced
1 stick butter
cooked meat from neck and heart, minced fine
canned chicken stock
4 eggs

Simmer the neck and heart, cool slightly and mince fine. In a very large
bowl toss the dressing croutons and the salad croutons together. Saute
the
onions and celery in the stick of butter until they're very well cooked.
Pour the onion/celery mix over the croutons, add the meat and toss until
well mixed. Add the eggs and enough chicken stock to make desired degree
of
moistness. Dump into greased 5 quart casserole and bake.

Kathy in Ks.


"QuiltShopHopper" wrote in message
...
My stuffing is only able to keep a starving person alive, but a person
not
starving would walk right by it. Can any of you fabulous
quilters/kitchen
goddesses tell me some secrets to delicious stuffing?
I know quilters are also great cooks.

Cyndi

*SOUTHERN CORNBREAD DRESSING*

Boil one large well seasoned (to your taste) chicken or fat hen. Let cool
and remove the meat from the bones. Save broth.

Bake one large pan of cornbread and crumble into a large mixing bowl.You may
also add any other type bread you may happen to have on hand..... biscuits,
crackers, old bread.
Add:
Boiled chicken
3-4 boiled eggs
chopped onion
celery
bell pepper (As much or as little of each as you like.)
Or add your own favorite veggies.
1 can of cream of chicken soup, cream of celery, or mushroom soup.( Whatever
you have on hand, I'll use any of these.)
Add the following to taste:
Salt
Garlic salt
Black pepper.(I use a lot in mine.)
Sage.
Add any of your favorite spices into mixture. Pour enough broth into the
mixing bowl to moisten mixture thoroughly and make a thick batter. Pour into
a baking pan and bake until firm.

I have no amounts for each ingredient, as I always just compensate for the
amount of dressing I want to make.

GIBLET GRAVY

A couple of cups of pre-cooked dressing mixture.
A couple more boiled eggs .
Chicken broth.
1 can of cream of chicken or celery soup. ( If you have it.) If not, it's
not needed.
liver, heart, gizzard, and some chopped chicken * You don't have to add the
giblets if you don't like them, just use the chicken.*
Heat broth and add dressing mixture, eggs and soup. No salt needed at this
point, the soup pretty much takes care of the seasoning. You might want to
add a little black pepper to the gravy or other spices. If you don't add the
soup, you'll need to use only a small bit of salt, the dressing mixture is
already seasoned.

My recipe which is basically a restaurant version of most home recipes, is
pleasing to most palettes and fast, hence restaurant style.
I saute 1 cup of celery and 1 c. onion in 1 stick of butter or margarine,
with about 1/2 pound pork sausage until onion is transparent and really
wilted.
Then add 2-3 cups of water and 1 TB. chicken base(chicken bouillon) simmer
and stir until base is dissolved.
Drizzle over boken up dry bread (Hamburger buns and hot dog buns seem to be
a favorite) I also use a bakery homestyle bread.....add 3 eggs, 1 t. rubbed
sage, 1/2 t. of pepper, be careful adding salt, since chicken base is quite
salty ....I usually microwave a small amount to check the flavorings, adding
more salt or sage as needed.....
Bake in flat greased pan 1 hour or stuff in bird.....I usually sdo not stuff
the bird, I know purists say you should to get all the flavors out, but in
the restaurant, it is not done this way for several reasons, longer roasting
time in the oven for the bird, the dressing is certainly cooked through no
fear of salmonella from under cooked eggs in the dressing, and it is easier
to portion out in service(meaning for home cook you can tell if you have
enough!), and it is also easier to cut after cool into chunks to freeze to
use later with roast Pork or Pork chops, or left overs.

--
Mauvice in Central WI USA
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"QuiltShopHopper" wrote in message
...
My stuffing is only able to keep a starving person alive, but a person not
starving would walk right by it. Can any of you fabulous quilters/kitchen
goddesses tell me some secrets to delicious stuffing?
I know quilters are also great cooks.

Cyndi

Thank you all for recipes and suggestions. DH can't be with me on Easter so
we are having a big turkey dinner before he leaves. I am combining all your
advice and I am so grateful to you for sharing your wisdom.

Cyndi

Cyndi, I am assuming you mean stuffing as in what you put into a
Turkey/chicken/etc???
Even my MIL likes the "recipe" I use. G
Finely chop or shred carrots. Chop up celery and onions. dump in a large pan
and simmer/saute/steam until they are starting to get limp/translucent/tender.

For the bread part I use Mrs. Cubbison's brand, and I use 2 parts of the
seasoned to one part of the cornmeal. (more or less) . While the vegetables
are cooking, and the neck and giblets of the turkey are simmering in lots of
water, put the bread stuff in a large bowl. Add a lot of powdered or rubbed
sage. (A LOT...... ) and some other herbs and spices (or use poultry
seasoning with some extra sage added). Don't forget some salt and some
freshly ground pepper.
Mix this together to evenly distribute the spices. Add the vegetables, and
mix in. Then add as much of the turkey broth as you want to make as moist as
you like it. I usually make it really mushy, then bake in a casserole dish.
The bread loses all its individual shape. If you are putting it into the bird
then you want it some drier so that it can absorb some of the juices of the
meat.
Taste it after adding everything to it. If you are not overpowered by the
sage add some more. It will mellow out, but my personal opinion is that the
sage makes the dressing work.
When the turkey is done, you can also add a bit of the pan juices to the top
of the casserole and back a bit longer.
I always have to make a huge batch of this because we also like it as
leftovers. Since you can use about equal parts (volume wise) of raw
vegetables (Evenly divided between carrots, celery and onion, or in any
proportion you wish) and bread it is also a little healthier than a mostly
bread based stuffing. the carrots add a good flavor, but you really don't
see or taste them.
(This is also good with pork. And can be made with canned broth or with
vegetable broth for the vegetarians among us. My grand mother even made this
with puffed rice for her son-in -law when he developed a wheat allergy.)

HTH,

Pati, in Phx.


QuiltShopHopper wrote:

My stuffing is only able to keep a starving person alive, but a person not
starving would walk right by it. Can any of you fabulous quilters/kitchen
goddesses tell me some secrets to delicious stuffing?
I know quilters are also great cooks.

Cyndi