[Sca-cooks] secret chestnut meat stuffing recipe

[elisabetta at klotz.org]

Here is the chestnut meat stuffing recipe.

It's actually a funny story. Apparently I knew the recipe the whole time from
years of watching my grandmother do it, but for some reason I never put the
pieces together. There is no actual recipe, you just learn it by doing it.

1 lb of chestnuts
1 lb ground beef
1/4 onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 piece white bread, no crusts
1 egg

Make an "x" on the flat side of the chestnut. Put the chestnuts in a large pot
and bring to boil. Boil for at least 1 hour. Let chestnuts cool down like hard
boiled eggs (drain 1/2 way, add cold water, let sit for a while, repeat).

Brown the onions, garlic and ground beef until there is no red left in 
the beef.
Peel the chestnuts. Crumble them into pieces and add to the meat. Mix 
well. Soak
the bread in water until it is really wet, and then squeeze all the water out
like a sponge. Pull into small peices and roll into balls and add to beef and
chestnut mixture. Season with Bell's Seasonings, salt and pepper to taste.

When ready to stuff the bird: Add in the egg and with your hands, mix into the
stuffing, making sure it is really mixed and wet. You can cook the left over
stuffing in the oven.

For Thanksgiving, for a 20 lb bird, we use 2.5 lbs of chestnuts and 2.5 lbs of
ground beef, 2 eggs, 3/4 onion, 10 cloves garlic and 3 pieces bread. You can
also add celery. If you're chestnut peelers really really like chestnuts, get
an extra 1/2 lb.

It is best with home-made turkey gravy over it.

Enjoy!!!

:)
Elisabetta