Mom's Thanksgiving and Christmas Sage & Celery Dressing and Sage and Celery Dressing with Oysters is so good there is none left by the end of the day (and each was a double recipe). One dish was just her great dressing and the other dish was her great dressing with oysters. The kids just wanted the dressing. Mom, the grandmothers, and the great grandmothers wanted Mom's dressing with oysters. Mom learned this recipe from my great grandmother, Margaret See. Grandma See always bought a big refrigerated jar of oysters from the grocer the day before a holiday and the whole jar went into a batch of dressing. I made a batch on just a regular old day, a month before Thanksgiving to go with an apple stuffed pork loin roast.
Ingredients:
- 1 loaf of stale bread, cubed (I use an equal amount from a bag of cubes purchased at the Whole Foods bread department.)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- Oysters, from a jar of fresh refrigerated oysters (optional)
- 1/2 stick of butter, melted
- 8 sage leaves, sauted in butter (or 2 tablespoons dried sage)
- Juices from chicken or turkey giblets
- Chicken broth
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions:
Mom always laid out fresh slices of artisan bread on cookie sheets to sit out the night before she was to make dressing to let the bread "get stale" (or dried). I just go to the Whole Foods bread department and ask for a bag of large bread cubes.
Use butter to grease the casserole bowl you'll use to bake the dressing. Do not forget to do this or you're going to have dressing sticking to the bottom of the dish.
Save chicken or turkey giblets. Cook the giblets in a quart of salted water just before making the dressing. I like to use a mix of water and chicken broth to cook the giblets. The reason you're cooking the giblets is to get the benefit of a big infusion of poultry taste in the dressing.
Put the stale bread cubes in a large mixing bowl. Add beaten eggs, salt and about 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Mix gently with a wooden spoon. Add the hot melted butter and juices from the chicken or turkey giblets a bit at a time and mix gently with a wooden spoon. You want to get the bread nice and wet (but you do not want liquid on top of the bread).
If you want oysters in the dressing, mix them in now.
Transfer the dressing from the mixing bowl to the buttered casserole you'll use to bake the dressing. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour and a half. Check the dressing now and then. Add poultry juice or chicken broth if the dressing is getting dry. Remove the lid about 20 minutes before the dressing is done so that the dressing will brown nicely.
Double the recipe for a large crowd or if you have folks like me that eat this stuff like it is going out of style. Which it does after Christmas until the next Thanksgiving (unless you're like me and make a dish on a regular old day just because you love Mom's sage and celery dressing). Here's a 1942 picture of my mom, my brother, and me (the pudgy little guy).
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