Jana's Stuffing

 

Jana's stuffing recipe is the best.  Thank you, Jana for sharing it with us! 

 

 

 

The first time I tasted Jana's stuffing was the year we prepared a Thanksgiving feast for the local community, and made many large pans of the stuffing to be served.  We made it all from scratch including all homemade ingredients - broth, biscuits and cornbread.  This is the best stuffing I have ever tasted and wonderful for a large crowd.  It was also great made in advance and reheated for our community dinner.

 

Here are my notes from my 2005 Thanksgiving recipe book in which I included Jana's recipe:  For best results you must use homemade broth, biscuits and cornbread.  Don't leave out the sage - a key ingredient.  I cook mine separately in a pan; Jana prefers her stuffing cooked in the turkey.  Do what works best for you.

 

I love the many, many cooking tips and recipes I have received from dear friends over the years.  As you learn to prepare foods from scratch that use only foods that God has given us (vs processed packaged foods that should be avoided), share your knowledge with your friends and loved ones too.

 

Ingredients:

 

2 big onions, chopped

3 ribs celery, chopped

1 stick butter

6 cups crumbled biscuits - 1 batch (use a no yeast biscuit recipe and no sweetener)

8 cups crumbled corn bread - 1 batch (leave out salt and sweetener from recipe)

2 tsp poultry seasoning

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

2 free-range eggs

3 - 5 cups home-made chicken broth

 

(If stuffing a turkey, leave out the sea salt from the dressing mixture and sprinkle it inside the turkey just before stuffing instead).

 

Crumble the biscuits and cornbread.

 

 

 Sauté onion and celery in butter, place in a large bowl.  Add the crumbled biscuits and cornbread, and toss lightly.  (The biscuits and cornbread can be made in advance and frozen.)  Sprinkle on the poultry seasoning, sage, black pepper (and salt if not placing stuffing in turkey - otherwise follow note above).  Toss lightly again.

 



Fork beat 2 eggs and add to 1/2 cup warm (not hot) broth.  Mix.  Sprinkle egg mixture on top of dressing mixture in bowl.  Toss lightly.

 

Then add additional warm broth, 1 cup at a time, until moist but not soggy.  Be careful you do not over mix (or beat while tossing) or your dressing will turn to mush.  You may not use all of the broth.  Add broth then toss lightly in gradual increments.  The mixture should be moist and sticky but not slushy, with no standing broth in bottom.  Add slowly at end so you don't add too much.

 



 

Baking in pan:

 

Butter a large glass rectangular baking dish.  Place dressing into baking dish.  It is ok to smooth it down a bit as long as you don't pack it down.  Bake at 350 °F for about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes or until done.

 

 



To stuff turkey:

 

Spoon stuffing into the cleaned cavity, shaking it down.  Do not pack with your spoon or you will have a brick (stuffing expands while baking).  Stuff the neck area also, securing it closed with toothpicks.  Bake per turkey directions in a brown paper bag. 

 

The paper bag will roast your turkey perfectly, it steams it just right to where it has a lovely color and is moist and delicious.  You can bake your turkey overnight if you have your Thanksgiving meal at lunchtime.  A big bird that is stuffed cooks overnight at 300 °F and a smaller bird stuffed with dressing at 250 °F.  Keep it in the oven on a very low temperature to stay warm.   As Jana says, if you are having a lot of company for Thanksgiving, getting up and having your turkey cooked is a great feeling.