My Family's Meat Stuffing for a Turkey
CATEGORIES
INGREDIENTS
- 2 lbs ground beef, your choice of cut
- 1 lb ground pork, I use Jones Sausage Roll*
- 1 cup large dice celery
- 1 cup large dice onions
- 6-12 ounces pepperidge farm onion and garlic croutons
- 1 lb butter, you may not need it all
- poultry seasoning
- salt
- pepper
DIRECTIONS
- First, have a very large bowl or pot close to stove top so you can put ingredients in as they are cooked.
- Second, you need a good sized fry pan, preferabley with deep, straight sides.
- Third, a good pair of tongs and spoonula.
- Fourth, are the ingredients. These are estimations, I don't really measure.
- Fifth, you might want to do the prep ahead so as to be able to cook and stuff all at once. Or not!
- *you could use just ground pork but the sausage gives a better taste.
- Heat fry pan and oil lightly with a pat of butter.
- Fry 1/2 the beef and 1/2 the sausage together. Make sure to break it all up and mix it well until all is cooked. Dump it all into the pot/bowl you have waiting. Juices and all.
- Do the same to the rest of the beef and sausage. Mix thoroughly.
- Melt 1/4 cup (4 Tbs) butter in fry pan and saute the celery until almost cooked. Dump it all into the pot/bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Melt 1/4 cup (4 Tbs) butter in fry pan and saute the onion until wilted, but not brown. Dump all into the pot/bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Add seasonings at this point. Use the amount that is to your liking. Mix very well.
- If it seems too dry at this point, melt more butter in the fry pan and add to the mix.
- Finally, add the 1 box of croutons and mix several times over the next 15-20 minutes.
- There should be little or no liquid in the bottom of the pot/bowl after this time. The croutons should have absorbed it. If not, add more croutons and repeat.
- Now you can either put the stuffing in a casserole dish, roaster or other baking pan , and cook separately from the turkey.
- I stuff my turkey, both neck and cavity. The extra stuffing goes in a separate pan to cook along side the turkey.
- With this we serve mashed potatoes, peas, my special turnip/carrot mash, cranberry sauce, and Polish rye or sisal bread. Of course, the gravy, too!
RECIPE BACKSTORY
This is a meat stuffing my family has used all my life and before. This was given to my mother by her mother, and I imagine, her mother. Our whole family used this recipe. My daughter makes this stuffing as well, and now my granddaughters have the recipe so they will eventually use it. It is a very tasty stuffing so we make "tons" of it to freeze or use over the holidays. It's good on toast with gravy as a hot open sandwich. Or with turkey slices and gravy as a leftovers meal. You can make it a day or so ahead, but you must bring it to room temp if you are going to stuff your bird with it.