The Greatest Stuffing
Prep
25m
Cook
55m
Total
80m
Bigly says
Stuffing. Or dressing. Whatever you call it — and people FIGHT about this, they fight, they get red in the face, 'it's stuffing,' 'no it's dressing,' it's the silliest war in the food world, both sides are wrong AND right, who cares, it's bread cubes in a pan, relax — whatever you call it, this is the greatest one. The greatest one ever made. In the history of stuffing. And there's been a LOT of stuffing. Many people don't know this, but the Romans had stuffing, they stuffed birds, they stuffed pigs, they stuffed practically anything you could fit a hand into. Older than the wheel, some historians say. It's true.
And the stuffing that came out of Rome, the stuffing that came out of medieval France, the stuffing your great-aunt makes from a BOX — and the box stuffing, listen, the box stuffing is a CRIME, it's powdered sadness, it's sawdust with sage flavoring sprayed on, somebody is getting rich selling that and they should be ashamed — none of it, NONE of it, comes close to this. This stuffing has CRUSTY corners. This stuffing has a CUSTARDY middle. This stuffing has so much butter in it that doctors call me, they say 'Bigly, the butter,' and I say doctor, mind your business, I'm cooking. This stuffing has sausage, herbs, leeks, the works. It is a complete event.
The secret — and most chefs are afraid to say it, they hedge, they mumble, they tell you 'fresh bread is fine' which is a LIE, an absolute lie, you can ask anyone — the secret is STALE BREAD. Stale. Or you dry it out yourself in the oven. Wet bread is SOUP. We are not making soup. We are making stuffing. We are making the greatest stuffing. Dry. The. Bread. Believe me.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbrustic sourdough or country bread(day-old, or dry it yourself, do not skip this)
- 1 cup (2 sticks)unsalted butter(yes, two sticks, this is a stuffing not a salad)
- 1 lbItalian sausage (sweet or hot), casings removed
- 1 largeyellow onion, diced
- 2leeks (white and light green only), sliced(wash these carefully, leeks hide grit like criminals)
- 4 stalkscelery, diced
- 5 clovesgarlic, minced
- 3 tbspfresh sage leaves, chopped
- 2 tbspfresh thyme leaves
- 1/3 cupfresh parsley, chopped
- 3large eggs
- 3 cupschicken stock(the good stuff, low-sodium)
- 2 tsp, dividedkosher salt
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 2 tbspextra butter (for greasing)
Steps
- 1
Preheat the oven to 275°F (135°C). Tear the bread into rough 1-inch pieces and spread on two sheet pans. Bake 30-40 minutes, tossing once, until dry and lightly toasted but not browned. Cool completely. (If your bread is already very stale, you can skip this and just toast it briefly at 350°F.)
- 2
Increase the oven temperature to 375°F (190°C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with the 2 tbsp butter.
- 3
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook 6-8 minutes, breaking it apart, until browned. Transfer to a large mixing bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the skillet.
- 4
Add the 1 cup butter to the skillet with the sausage drippings and melt over medium heat. Add the onion, leeks, and celery with 1 tsp salt. Cook 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and starting to caramelize at the edges.
- 5
Add the garlic, sage, and thyme and cook 1 more minute, until fragrant. Scrape everything from the skillet — butter and all, do not waste a drop of that butter — into the bowl with the sausage.
- 6
Add the dried bread cubes and parsley to the bowl. Toss to combine.
- 7
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the chicken stock, remaining 1 tsp salt, and pepper.
- 8
Pour the egg-stock mixture over the bread mixture and toss thoroughly. Let stand 10 minutes, tossing once or twice, so the bread absorbs the liquid. The bread should be moist all the way through but not soupy.
- 9
Transfer to the buttered baking dish and spread evenly, leaving the surface a little craggy — those craggy bits are what get crispy.
- 10
Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 25-30 more minutes, until the top is deeply golden brown and crisp and the center registers 165°F (74°C).
- 11
Rest 10 minutes before serving.
One more thing
This is the stuffing. THE stuffing. Make this once and your family will never accept anything else again. Your mother-in-law will ask for the recipe. You will tell her. Or you won't. Up to you. Some traditions are worth holding onto and some traditions — like that box on the supermarket shelf with the smiling cartoon turkey — are worth burning to the ground. This stuffing burns them. This stuffing closes the book. That's the recipe.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about The Greatest Stuffing.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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