Recipe: Very Simple Bread Stuffing

This recipe is very special to me.  It is the stuffing we always ate at Thanksgiving at my parents' house.  My mother got it from her mother, who passed away in 1997.  My maternal grandmother was widely acknowledged to be the best cook in the whole wide world, and this recipe is very much typical of her cooking.  It isn't fancy.  It isn't even difficult.  It is very, very good.  I decided to make it recently both to offer a tasty Thanksgiving stuffing and to showcase one of my grandmother's recipes.  And because stuffing is my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal. 

If this were an episode of Good Eats, the entire crew would shout "Stuffing is Evil!" and hold up hand-written signs attesting to that fact.  This is not an episode of Good Eats, and I don't have a crew.  I have two cats and a dog.  The dog is outside, the cats are napping, and none of them has any problem with stuffing.  That said, there are people who feel that putting the stuffing inside the turkey throws off the cooking time of the bird and may increase your risk of food-born illness.  (We cooked this inside the turkey for decades and no one ever got sick, and the turkey was never ever dry, except the one year when my mom forgot to turn the oven on and then nobody ate anything but cheese and crackers.  Hey - it happens.  It's the family and company that counts anyway, and everyone had a good time.)  As a result, when I prepared this recipe most recently, the turkey was cooked outside and the stuffing was cooked inside.  I basted it liberally with a whole lot of duck stock which does make it different from my beloved grandmother's beloved recipe, but it was still darned good. 

Very Simple Bread Stuffing (serves 6 - 12; approx. $1.62/serving.  Note: This recipe can be very easily scaled up.)

1 lb Italian sausage - I used sweet, hot sausage would be just as good and in a pinch you can even use breakfast links. 

1 onion, diced

4 celery stalks, diced

1 loaf white bread - the kind you would make for your kids' sandwiches.  I'd advise against using anything too fancy here, but if whole wheat is your thing then go for it.

4 tablespoons butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon Bell's seasoning, plus more if needed

4 cups homemade duck stock (optional; use only if cooking the stuffing outside of the turkey)

Equipment:

• Frying pan
• Large bowl
• Slotted spoon
• Roasting pan (if cooking outside the turkey)

1. Tear the bread slices into pieces with your hands and put them in the bowl.
2. Remove the casings from the sausages and chop them into pieces.
3. Melt the butter in the frying pan.
4. Add the onion and celery.  Cook until the vegetables are tender.  Transfer to the bowl with the slotted spoon.
5. Add the sausages to the pan.  Cook until well browned and cooked through.  Evacuate to a plate lined with paper towels and drain well.  
6. Transfer the sausage to the bowl.  
7. Add the egg and Bell's seasoning to the bowl.  Mix well.  Use your hands if necessary, and fight the urge to snack on little bits of sausage.  
8. If you are stuffing a turkey, go ahead and stuff this mixture into the bird's cavity.  Roast it along with the turkey.  If you are cooking it separately from the bird, transfer the mixture to a roasting pan.  
9. Preheat the oven to 375.  
10. Pour about 1 cup of duck stock over the mixture and cook about 20 minutes.  
11. Add another cup of duck stock.  Repeat 2 more times.  Do not add the duck stock all at once, however tempting it may be.  This will result in soggy, icky bread.  The main point of adding the stock is to keep the bread, etc. from drying out.  
12. Serve warm.  Or serve cold.  Or refrigerate and reheat in the microwave.  Optionally, gorge yourself late at night when no one else is looking.  Just enjoy.