Recipe:Basic Turkey Dressing

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of stale white or cornbread, or 2 bags of purchased cubes of stuffing.
• 1 pound of butter
• 2 cups of diced onions
• 2 cups of diced celery
• 2 shallots
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 3/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley
• 3 tablespoons of sage + thyme + nutmeg + allspice (approximately 1/2 a tablespoon of each, but it's your call)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of pepper

Optionally include

• 1 cup of hot chicken stock (for cooking the dressing outside of the bird)
• 2 pints of oysters *or* 1.5 pounds of good sausage
• 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts

Recipe

Prepare The Bread

If you've started with bread (instead of premade cubes), you'll want to cube the bread and toast it in the oven until the edges brown, but the bread is still soft.

Vegetables

Melt the butter in a pan. Add the onions, celery, shallots, and garlic. Cook on a medium heat, until softened.

Spices

Take the pan off the heat, and dump in all of the spices and parsley. Mix it up well.

Moisten

Put the bread cubes in a large bowl, and pour the butter + vegetables + spices over the bread cubes. Toss until they're moistened evenly. If you're cooking the dressing inside the bird, add in some of the chicken stock to get the stuffing moister. This has to be to taste, so you may want to experiment or make two batches with more or less stock.

Mix-Ins

• If you want oysters, just pour them right into the bowl.
• If you want sausage, brown it in a pan, crumbling as you go. Drain it well and add it to the bowl.
• If you want nuts, add them right to the bowl.

Cook

Either put the dressing into the bird (magically transforming it into stuffing) or put it into a covered, greased baking dish. Bake in an oven pre-heated to 350 for an hour.