Greater Harrisburg's Community Magazine

The Right Stuffing: A holiday tale of beer, salt & the perfect dressing.

Screenshot 2013-10-30 20.48.27Responsibility for Thanksgiving dinner dropped on me like a mantle sometime in the late-1990s.

My father was no longer with us, and my mother seemed unable to continue our family tradition of preparing the annual feast. There was always comfort in knowing everything would be the same year after year: red linen tablecloth (also used for Christmas dinner), a little, half-burned candle that smelled like brown sugar, my father in his plaid flannel shirt and the wonderful smell of turkey roasting in the oven. But now, it was up to me.

So, despite the fact that I considered myself a pretty good cook by that time, when it came to turkey and filling, I was largely lost. Thanksgiving was going to be at my house, and I really didn’t know where to begin.

The evening before the 1997 holiday, after putting in a long day at work, I started this adventure with the filling. I knew the basic ingredients, having watched my mother and aunt for so many years. And I assembled them all together in the biggest bowl I had.  Unexpectedly, our friends, Suzi and Eddie, dropped by and, a few beers later, disaster struck. Mixing all the filling ingredients together and trying to add salt from a large Morton salt container, the top came off. The entire contents poured into the bowl. I quickly scooped as much of the top layers as I could out of the bowl, but clearly this was not going to be good.

The men were dispatched to the grocery store only to find mostly bare shelves. Several cell phone exchanges later, they returned with a bread product I can no longer remember, and I began again, saving what I could from the original batch. The stuffing was salty, but we all survived.

I am better at making stuffing now, and I collect as many different recipes for it as I can: filling with sausage, with oysters (who eats that?), cornbread filling, filling with chestnuts and filling with every kind of fresh herb you can imagine. I have tried them all. Did I mention dried cranberries?

The problem is that I like my mother’s stuffing the best, and it is so very ordinary. I use a good quality country white bread, fresh parsley, celery hearts and sweet butter. But the star of the filling, I think, is McCormick’s Poultry Seasoning, a dried herb mixture that has been around forever. (What?  No fresh sage or thyme?) But it must be a fresh jar, not the dusty stuff from four holidays ago. I don’t really follow a recipe or measure the ingredients, but I keep on tasting it until it is just right. Here’s how I do it:

Rosemary’s Stuffing

  • Cut 1½ to 2 loaves of Arnold or Pepperidge Farm white county bread into ½-inch cubes and place them in a very large bowl. (I leave the crusts on.)
  • In a food processor, place several ribs of celery hearts that have been cut into pieces, a large sweet onion cut into chunks and a whole bunch of fresh (de-stemmed) parsley. Process this mixture until it is minced fairly fine and add it to the bread cubes, tossing it all very well.
  • Sprinkle the poultry seasoning (I use a lot), salt and freshly ground pepper into the bowl and mix with a large spoon or your hands.
  • Melt 1½ sticks of sweet, unsalted butter in the microwave and pour into the stuffing, mixing as you pour.
  • Keep tasting for the correct amount of salt, pepper and poultry seasoning and adjust to your taste.
  • Now the important part: the filling should be moist, but not wet. If it seems too dry, add a little unsalted chicken broth.
  • Place in a deep rectangular baking dish and cover with foil.

I make lots and lots of this filling the day before Thanksgiving, usually more than we can eat. On Thanksgiving day, I take the pans out of the oven and bake them for about 30 to 45 minutes in a 350-degree oven. I use some of the dressing to stuff the bird and save the rest for future meals. Extra filling freezes well and goes with pork chops, ham and chicken breasts, too.

Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away. I know I will search through Bon Appetite and Food and Wine magazines for exotic fillings again this year. (Maybe an Indian version?)  And I will likely experiment with a new one. But this is the one my guests will actually eat.

I wish all TheBurg readers a blessed and happy Thanksgiving.

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