Out Of This World Out Of The Bird Stuffing Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon and breaking up any clumps, until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sausage with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.
• Add the wine to the skillet and cook until almost all the liquid has evaporated, scraping up any browned bits, about 2 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to the skillet, and then add the mushrooms. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and some pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms brown and have cooked down to about half their original volume, about 5 minutes. Transfer the mushrooms with a slotted spoon to the bowl with the sausage.
• Melt the remaining 7 tablespoons butter in the skillet. Then add the celery, onions, sage and thyme and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a simmer.
• Beat the eggs and parsley in another large bowl. Add the bread cubes and toss. Add the reserved sausage and mushrooms and toss together. Pour in the vegetables and broth and toss again until evenly coated. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Then uncover and continue to bake until golden, about 30 minutes more. Garnish with celery leaves if using.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.
• Place sausage in a large Dutch oven. Cook over medium high heat, stirring to crumble, until evenly brown. Drain.
• Add the bacon to the sausage along with the onions, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, mushrooms, butter, pepper, celery salt, seasoning salt, poultry seasoning, basil, garlic powder and water. Bring to a boil; cook and stir 10 to 20 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
• Gradually place the bread into the mixture, thoroughly blending until all pieces are coated. Transfer to a large baking dish or two medium baking dishes.
• Bake in the preheated oven 40 to 60 minutes, or until the top begins to brown.

Steps:

• In toaster, toast all of the bread and immediately spread generous amounts of butter on toast.
• Use entire stick of butter to do this.
• Set toast aside.
• Finely chop garlic, onion, celery, and mushrooms.
• Heat olive oil in large skillet.
• Add chopped vegetables, cook until tender, about 6-8 minutes.
• While vegetables are cooking.
• Chop parsley and almonds.
• When vegetables are tender add, parsley, almonds, and poultry seasoning.
• Stir well and cook one more minute.
• Cut toasted bread into cubes.
• Add bread and chicken stock.
• Stir until bread is softened, about one minute.
• Remove from heat and transfer to serving dish.
• Let sit covered 5 minutes.
• **Please note that I occasionally add chopped cooked apples&/or browned breakfast sausage to this stuffing when adding the bread.

Steps:

• The night before, carefully cube the bread, cutting away all the crusts (and feeding the crusts to your neighbourhood songbirds and squirrels-its Christmas for them, too!).
• Place the chicken stock in a pot, and carefully simmer half the garlic and the heart, gizzard and neck meat for 20 minutes. Add the liver, and simmer 20 minutes more.
• Remove from heat, preserve the liquid, strip the meat from the neck, and cut away the meat from the viscera of the gizzard, discarding the viscera. Mince the meat to a fine paste, using reserved stock if or as necessary.
• Dice onion and celery finely. Heat olive oil in a pan and saute them and balance of garlic until tender, and remove from heat.
• Add seaoning, nut meal, minced neck, giblets,and soya sauce, stirring together well.
• Place bread bits and Bran in a bowl, and evacuate sauteed bits into the breading, mixing well.
• Moistenm with reserved stock until the mix is "damp" but not "soggy".
• Stuff into the bird's gut and neck cavity. Do notbe afraid to compress the mix "slightly", contrary to urban legend, the bird will not "explode", you'llsimply have some stuffing leak forward from the gut, where it will brown quite nicely!
• Cook your turkey until the breast meat and stuffing are about 155 degrees, and the dark meat is about 170 degrees, and remove from the oven. Evacuate the stuffing immediately and cover with foil.

Steps:

• In 12-inch, heavy skillet over moderate heat, heat butter until hot but not smoking. Stir in onion and celery, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 15 to 20 minutes. (Vegetables can be prepared up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Reheat before continuing: In 12-inch, heavy skillet over moderately high heat, sauté, stirring often, until heated through, about 5 minutes.)
• Transfer to large bowl and add stuffing cubes, parsley, celery salt, sage, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir in 1¼ cups hot stock.
• If using to stuff turkey:
• Use immediately to fill cavities and spread remainder in baking dish as directed in Classic Roast Turkey recipe .
• If baking in a casserole pan:
• Preheat oven to 350°F and butter 3-quart casserole or 9-by 13-inch baking dish. Transfer stuffing to dish and drizzle with ½ cup hot stock (stuffing baked outside of the turkey won't be soaked in the turkey's juices, so extra stock is drizzled on top to keep it moist). Cover with aluminum foil and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is slightly crisp and golden, about 10 minutes longer. Serve immediately.
• Variations:
• Sausage and Sage Stuffing: In large, heavy skillet over moderate heat, sauté 1 pound bulk pork sausage, breaking up pieces with spoon, until meat shows no sign of pink, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to large bowl. Proceed with recipe, adding ingredients to bowl with sausage and substituting 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage for dried rosemary and sage.
• Dried Apricot and Pecan Stuffing: Dried fruit are better than fresh in stuffing because the latter get soggy with long baking. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread 1½ cups (6 ounces) pecans on rimmed baking sheet and toast, stirring occasionally, until browned and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Cool and coarsely chop. In medium bowl, combine 1½ cups diced dried apricots and hot water to cover. Soak until apricots plump, about 30 minutes, then drain well. Proceed with recipe, tossing apricots and pecans with other ingredients in large bowl.
• Test-Kitchen Tips: Warm, moist stuffing is an optimal environment for bacteria such as salmonella or E. coli to multiply, so it's important to follow safe procedures. Be sure to make the stuffing at the last minute so it can go into the bird warm. This helps it move above the "danger zone" (the optimal temperature range for bacteria growth) more quickly during roasting. Stuffing baked outside of the turkey can be spread in the baking dish and refrigerated for a few hours while the turkey roasts, but it should be prepared on the same day as baking.