What You'll Need
Ingredients
- Loaf of bread
- Stick of unsalted butter
- 1 cup celery, finely chopped
- Mushrooms, chopped
- 2 cups onion, chopped
- Several fresh sage leaves
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 12-to-14-lb turkey, seasoned
Equipment
- 2 baking pans
- Knife
- Skillet
- Burner
- Cooking spoon
- Butcher string or twine
- Pins
Step 1: Making the Stuffing
1. Tear apart the loaf of bread to make large breadcrumbs. Alternately, for a more uniform breadcrumb, you can cut it into small squares of equal size. Save the heel of the loaf for use later in the recipe.
2. Place the pieces in a baking pan. Toast them in the oven.
3. Melt the butter in the skillet on a medium heat. Add the onions, celery and mushrooms. Turn the heat to medium-high and sauté, stirring, until the mixture's ingredients soften.
4. Stack the sage leaves, then roll the stack. Julienne the stack by cutting it into very small pieces. Add one and a half teaspoons of the sage to the mixture in the skillet. Add the parsley. These fresh herbs serve as a counterpoint to the butter.4. Stir in the breadcrumbs.
Step 2: Stuffing the Turkey
1. Make sure your turkey and your stuffing are both room temperature. Place stuffing in the inner edge of the turkey cavity, making sure it's very loosely packed. WARNING: If the stuffing is tightly packed, it will not heat up to the temperature needed, which creates a risk for food-borne illnesses.
2. Use the heel of the bread loaf to close the cavity opening. Use the butcher string to make a quick knot around one of the legs. Bring the other leg over to the first, then wrap the string around them. Make another knot to keep this secure.
3. Put a handful of stuffing into the neck cavity. Once the extra neck skin starts to balloon, the neck cavity is close to full. Tuck in the remaining neck skin to keep in the stuffing. If you have pins, you can use those to keep it secure.4. Place the turkey in a baking pan with a bed of sage and parsley. Serve the remaining stuffing as a side dish.
Tips
- Instead of sage or parsley, you can use other fresh or dried herbs of your choice, such as rosemary or thyme.
- Instead of discarding celery leaves, keep them on to add a nice, fresh flavor.
- Leave the stalks on the mushrooms, because these add a lot of flavor.
Stuffing Variations
- Fruit and nut stuffing with prunes, apricots, currants, raisins, bourbon, apples, onion, macadamia nuts, cashews, walnuts, cranberries, cayenne pepper, cloves, ginger, chervil and parsley
- Rice stuffing with brown rice, mushrooms, cranberries, thyme, basil, prosciutto and pecans
- Potato stuffing with white bread, potatoes, onions, celery and parsley