The centerpiece of the traditional Thanksgiving
dinner is the turkey. People have their turkey preferences: brined, grilled, smoked, and even deep fried. Me, however, I'm a traditionalist. I like my turkey roasted in the oven, basted regularly with salted butter, and stuffed to the gills with what one of my guests this year deemed "Baltimore Stuffing"."Baltimore Stuffing" is the way my grandparents, great aunts, and mother always made stuffing on Thanksgiving and Christmas. As a child, it was the only hand I had in cooking for the family- all year. I've adjusted the recipe slightly to make it a bit 'spicier' - but at its heart, Baltimore Stuffing is a thing of moist simplicity and a welcome addition to any table.
You start with stale white loaf bread. I do not use very stale bread, just still-slightly squishy sliced white bread loaf that is a few days old (not moldy!). You tear up (just rip it into smallish pieces) two loaves of the stuff into a very, very large bowl.
Add two bunches of celery, chopped, and two medium sized onions, chopped. Stir with your hands by sort of folding and tossing.
Add herbs. LOTS. I use the following dried herbs: basil, oregano, tarragon, Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Seasoning, regular poultry seasoning, rosemary, and fresh ground pepper. Again, stir with your hands so the herbs are evenly distributed. You will notice the bread start to crumble a bit IT SHOULD this is a good thing. Taste it - spicy enough? no? add some more PPPS and pepper, and taste again.
Shove ALL OF IT deeply in to the bird's 'cavity' with your hand. (AFTER you have removed the giblet bag; cooking my first Turkey in Guatemala, I only remembered about the plastic bag of giblets after I started cooking the bird, and had to take all the stuffing out and start over!) Seem to be filling up? Squish it down in there further and put more in. Almost all of it will fit. Whatever does not fit should go under the flap of fatty skin on the front of the bird. The stuffing will be showing out the back - that's ok! It will get the benefit of baking juices as you baste your bird.
When you remove the turkey from the oven (remember, stuffed birds take much longer to cook than empty birds, so be sure to use a meat thermometer to check the temp) the stuffing comes out first. Use a spoon to remove it - it will be VERY HOT. As you carve the bird, you will discover more stuffing deeper in the bird. This is the tastier stuffing, trust me. You are not likely to get all of the stuffing out until the bird is down to the bones.
In this picture, you can see the layer of stuffing in the front of the bird after cooking:
Cover the stuffing with aluminum foil as soon as it is out of the bird if not being served immediately to keep the stuffing moist. Dried out stuffing belongs on no one's table!
Enjoy, give thanks, and eat up!
