I've been preparing my own bread stuffing for Christmas for so many years. Does anyone have something really special for something different this Christmas.
Ideas please
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I've been preparing my own bread stuffing for Christmas for so many years. Does anyone have something really special for something different this Christmas.
Ideas please
What’s bread stuffing? I make bread sauce
This is my own and quite old recipe :
I buy a baguette and let it go stale .
Then , I grate it up on a coarse grater .
It's tedious and I always grate myself !
I mix it up with melted butter , an egg and a mixture of herbs .
Add very finely chopped onions to the mixture .
Then I add finely chopped dried apricots - a good handful or more .
If I roll the stuffing into balls I might add some blanched almonds .
I use my hands to mix it . You can't use a spoon .
It should be soggy ,
but not drippng moisture .
You can either stuff a turkey with it or cook it separately .
Oh I’d completely forgotten that!
My grandmother and then mother used to stuff the Christmas chicken with it. I haven’t a clue what the recipe was, but it definitely was heavy on the parsley.
I assume it was a cheap version of forcemeat stuffing, although maybe a wartime recipe.?
I do a fairly traditional pork sausage , onion, celery, all browned together, then stale bread cubes (about 1cm square), and lots of herbs. Moisten with drippings from turkey, plus some broth, then I bake it separately in a lidded casserole.
My mother's recipe was different. Firstly boil a few onions, if large chopped in half or quarters, until tender. It only takes a short time. Drain them in a seive/ colander. Stick a knife in and chop them roughly.
Tip them into a bowl, add some breadcrumbs, no more than a quarter of the amount of onions, or even less. Mix well. Add lots of dried sage, salt and pepper.
When whatever joint you are cooking has started to give off fat, add the "stuffing" to the roasting tin. Turn every 15 or 20 minutes or so. The "stuffing" will absorb lots of meat juices and roast and reduce right down. This was one of my favourite parts of Christmas Dinner as a child and stuffing sandwiches afterwards were a real treat. I didn't care about the meat.
The "stuffing" ends up as a sloppy, oniony side dish worthy of pride of place on the table.
I make mine with fresh breadcrumbs, sausagemeat (squeezed out of ‘best’ sausages), chopped onion lightly fried in butter, chopped fresh sage, salt and pepper - all bound together with an egg.
Some stuffs the head end of the turkey, the rest is baked separately, with some of the roast turkey juices ladled on.
Bread crumbs, finely chopped onion, lots of fresh sage, chopped plus parsley or other herbs if desired, butter or olive oil salt, pepper and egg to bind.
Best cooked separately from the turkey.
Bread sauce - stud an onion with cloves, place in a pan with milk, peppercorns, butter, bring to boil and simmer for a couple of minutes. Leave to steep. Remove onion etc, add breadcrumbs to the milk and simmer gently, adding more butter and cream.
You can add the peppercorns back in if you wish.
Sausage meat stuffing is different again.
Delia's American stuffing is a favourite in our house . I cook it in good time and put it in the freezer, thaw on Christmas eve then in Christmas Day cover with foil and re heat. The recipe does not mention adding an egg but the illustration shows an egg in the mixture - so I always add one.
I soften onions in butter, add some streaky bacon to cook with it, then add in breadcrumbs, parsley, a pack of chestnut purée (the unsweetened one). Season well, bind with an egg, work it into a log shape and wrap in foil to cook.
I make mine like Witzend but add chopped walnuts,dried cranberries and chopped apples.
Salti
My mother's recipe was different. Firstly boil a few onions, if large chopped in half or quarters, until tender. It only takes a short time. Drain them in a seive/ colander. Stick a knife in and chop them roughly.
Tip them into a bowl, add some breadcrumbs, no more than a quarter of the amount of onions, or even less. Mix well. Add lots of dried sage, salt and pepper.
When whatever joint you are cooking has started to give off fat, add the "stuffing" to the roasting tin. Turn every 15 or 20 minutes or so. The "stuffing" will absorb lots of meat juices and roast and reduce right down. This was one of my favourite parts of Christmas Dinner as a child and stuffing sandwiches afterwards were a real treat. I didn't care about the meat.
Sounds just like how my mum made it Salti. It was delicious. I've never quite managed to make mine as good despite many years of practise!
I bake brotchen (or similar bread), slice, let it go dry. Saute chopped onions, celery, shallots, mushrooms, garlic, sage, salt, pepper. Add broth, simmer an hour, stir in breads. Bake at 200 for at least an hour.
I usually use half as much broth as bread. I like to have 16 cups of dried bread with 8 cups of the liquid /vegetable mixture.
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