You and I shared a mom, lol.

1 lb pork sausage

1 bag stuffing croutons

1 medium onion, fine dice

2 ribs celery, fine dice

2 T poultry seasoning

2 C stock- chicken or turkey

Brown up the sausage and veggies, stir in the seasoning. Stir all that into the bread bits. Add in your stock and stir well to make sure everything is moist. Bake covered at 350 for 15-20 min to get it hot through.

*if you get some fond buildup from the browning of the meat and veggies, use a bit of stock to work that back off the pan to add to your stuffing.

We have a very similar family recipe to beesneeds above, which my Mom got from Ladies Home Journal in 1960. However, ours uses cornbread 50/50 with the bread crumbs. It also adds in eggs (after the mixture is cool enough) prior to adding the stock. Funny, we always called it "dressing" even though it is stuffed into the bird.

It's not so different from my mom's either. If there’s something missing, try out different flavors. For ours, it’s a green bell pepper. It also has big slices of white mushrooms, rather than the sausage, but that's not the big flavor difference that the bell pepper is. Marjoram, which is often in poultry seasoning, is another big flavor difference in many recipes. Most poultry seasoning has a lot of thyme as well as sage, so that’s another thing to try.

My mom used eggs. The yolks provide fat, which you have in the sausage. I think the whites are important, too, but I don't know exactly why. Turkey stock was added to the stuffing, but I usually use chicken. The flavor isn't that different in the long run, but it takes more chicken stock to properly moisten the stuffing. It's needed when stuffing the bird, and more is needed for a casserole.

All the little things add up to be “right”. Keep trying this and that, and you’ll get there.

Thanks, these sound like great ideas... I'll especially add in marjoram and thyme... and I can start making more chicken stock so I have it to hand.

Originally from Ky. also. my relatives always simmered the turkey gizzard, heart and liver, a chopped onion, one stalk chopped celery for couple hours. This became the broth for the dressing. Giblets were also chopped and added. A variation my mother liked was adding oysters. Not me. Also any onions in dressing were always browned first along w/ celery.

My mother’s _simple_ New England roast turkey stuffing.

it pretty much goes like this and was always cooked inside both cavities of the turkey. It’s very important to not squash or pack. You want it to have loft.

Ingredients include (amount depends of the size of the turkey — anything less than 13 Lbs and you have mostly frame and fat):

— 1” to 1.5” approximate ~ cubes of day old bread slices. Not squish bread, real bread. Can be white farm style or even wheat. Not fresh out of the bag or fresh baked. Not toasted or oven dried. About day-old. Start with about 4 to 6 cups

— medium chop yellow onion

— medium to fine chop celery hearts, include leaves

— egg (or two, I’ve only ever used one)

— about 1/4 C or to taste melted butter

— Bell’s Poultry Seasoning

— Salt and pepper (don’t put too much— you can always add more later)

No meat, no giblets, no pork or hamburger (blech). No oysters (why ruin oysters.)

Toss gently to combine.

Fill cavities gently, taking care not to compact. You’re not at Nathan’s hotdog completion. Any extra stuffing (dressing) can be baked separately, outside the turkey. It’s great to have lots of extra because it is fantastic with leftover next day turkey sandwiches or plates.

Leftover Turkey Sandwiches (cut diagonally):

Inside the bread with a bit of mayoinclude:

turkey, crisp seasoned skin, bit of gravy, bit of stuffing. Cranberry sauce on side.

Mr1010... yes, my mother did that as well with the gizzard and heart and neck. She seldom added the liver, as that flavor did not appeal to her in this context. (She or dad found other uses for serving liver.) I don't believe oysters ever put in an appearance.

Heading off in about an hour to purchase the last ingredients for this dish (senior shopping hour starts at 7 am...). Again, thanks...

That is too funny that mother's from across the country had a similar, classic recipe. In my case, there usually was minced carrot in the mirepoix for color. My version today starts from the basic recipe and adds fresh herbs.

I'm pretty sure chicken fat in some quantity was the secret to my grandmother's stuffing . . .

Hmm. My sister said no egg. But (?) maybe she adds a bit of the “back burner broth” <—— neck, gizzard, whatever simmering in water with an onion, celery stick, salt and pepper. We use this broth when making gravy.

Bonus horror story: one of the young husbands of a relative (who considers himself a chef) horrified his MIL when he confidently toss out all the roasted turkey drippings, fat and fond. Then made some rendition of flavorless “gravy.”

The guest MIL big her tongue and said nothing. His wife likely knew that tossing all that flavor was blasphemous, but she also kept silent.

Would you have said anything? I might have offered a suggestion, and that might explain the silent phone. 🤣🤣🤣

@petalique -- what would you make the gravy with? Just broth? That is blasphemous.

"what would you make the gravy with?"

The turkey drippings and juices, thickened with a roux. The stock/broth is just to thin....and add some additional flavor, especially if including the giblets, etc.

Can you even make a gravy with just broth? Can't imagine it would have any taste at all!!

I have “my grandmother’s” dressing ready to go in the oven.

It’s good...but...

It is not even close to Grandma’s

Several things seem to be throwing it “off.”

I baked the cornbread as usual. But... we normally have “bacon grease” made from a friend’s pastured organic hogs. He butchers them. He apple smokes the bacon. Chemicals never touch these porky pigs. I cook the bacon and jealously save the grease.

A month or so back DH had cooked some commercial bacon (why?) and added that to the grease container.

Yuck, yuck, and double yuck. Even with the small portion of grease I used, I can taste it in the dressing.

I never sauté the onions and celery, neither did Grandma. This morning I did, and added one minced garlic clove.

I tasted the raw dressing. Yes, it has raw eggs in it. I will not die! It’s not bad, but it’s not special, and it’s certainly not Grandma’s.

I used all her ingredients - 3/4 cornbread, 1/4 light bread, celery, onion, sage, black pepper, beaten eggs, chicken broth...

It’s good; we’ll eat it, but it is not even close to Grandma’s.

Yes, today is the day I'm actually doing this. (I did get a last minute invite on Thanksgiving Thursday proper, and brought a casserole to that.) But yes, today is the day I'm entertaining a friend with however this turns out...

If it is good, I'll post what I did.

The gravy WILL HAVE TO HAVE drippings and fond. I've already cooked the giblets for it - neck, heart, gizzard.

Since this is a heritage (hence, less fatty bird), I am about to make a bacon butter to moisten the breast with. The stock (mostly chicken but did include turkey feet) was made a few days ago. Using celery, onion and parsnips for the mirepoix. Bread was chopped up last night to dry for the stuffing, but it was still a bit moist this morning, so I baked it for 15 minutes at a temperature as low as my oven will go (170 F).