[Sca-cooks] TURKEY GRAVY

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

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In a message dated 11/14/2001 11:37:24 PM Eastern Standard Time,
Morses3 at aol.com writes:


> On the same note since it's a timely subject, what stuffing recipes does
> everyone use that they like the best? Which ones have you tried and not
> liked?
>
>

My favorite, and the one I will always use from choice, is (again) my mom's.
She's a good plain cook who prefers to bring out the flavors of the food
rather than disguising it with a bunch of spices or sauces.  And the only
thing she ever uses a recipe with amounts for is baking.
Bread stuffing:  Take slightly stale white bread (yes, the commercial stuff),
and tear it into small pieces.  (For Thanksgiving, this is usually
accomplished by my mom and me sitting in kitchen chairs, facing each other,
with a huge ceramic bowl supported by our four knees between us.)  How much?
Well, it depends on how big the cavity in the bird is, and if you want any
extra to cook separately.  You sort of have to look at it, squish it down a
little, and see if it looks like it will fit once it's moistened.  Put in a
good bit of finely chopped onion, finely chopped celery leaves (dried works
as well as fresh), and salt.  Add melted butter or margarine - maybe one half
pound to two loaves of bread.  Break a couple of eggs and beat them up with
milk.  Add the milk a little at a time while mooshing with your hands.  If
you need more liquid, add more milk.  You want everything dampened enough to
stick together, but not soggy.  Taste.  Yes, with the raw egg; we've been
doing this for, well, at least 36 years, and I've been the official taste
tester for about 20 years, and neither of us has ever gotten sick.  It's the
only way I know if it needs more of anything.  Usually if it does, it's salt.
 Pack loosely into the bird and close up however you prefer.  If there's any
left, put it in a Pyrex dish, and add some of the pan drippings to the dish
before putting it in the oven.  The stuff in the Pyrex only needs to be in
the oven for about 30-45 minutes, depending on how much there is, or it gets
too crunchy.
This makes a very firm, flavorful stuffing which can actually be sliced when
cold if you make it right.  Very useful for sandwiches later :-)

As for my least favorite?  Anything that tastes like it had half a sage plant
ground up into it.  I like sage, but in small quantities.  I've never
understood why some people seem to think that stuffing has to taste primarily
of sage.

Brangwayna Morgan