Tag: stuffing

Old-Fashioned Mushroom Stuffing

Mushroom stuffing in chicken

I recently saw a recipe for Mushroom Stuffing in a hundred-year-old cookbook, and decided to give it a try. I used it to stuff a chicken.

Verdict: The Mushroom Stuffing was easy to make and tasted delightful. The seasoning was just right and the mushrooms were a nice change from the usual stuffing that contains celery.

Recipe for Mushroom Stuffing
Source: The New Butterick Cook Book (1924)

Two teaspoons of salt seemed like a lot, so I reduced it to 3/4 teaspoon which worked fine. I didn’t follow the order listed in the recipe for mixing the ingredients. I combined the butter, salt, and herbs first; then added the mushrooms, and finally stirred in the bread crumbs.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Mushroom Stuffing

  • Servings: 2-3
  • Difficulty: moderate
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Mushroom Stuffing

 

Note: This recipe makes enough stuffing to stuff a 2-3 pound chicken. Double recipe for a 5 – 6 pound chicken; quadruple for a 10-12 pound turkey.

3 cups bread crumbs (tear bread into 1-inch pieces)

6 tablespoons butter, melted

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground thyme

1 teaspoon parsley flakes

1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped

In a large bowl combine butter, salt, thyme, and parsley flakes; stir in chopped mushrooms. Add bread crumbs; stir gently until thoroughly combined. Scoop stuffing into chicken or turkey body and neck cavities. Cook poultry thoroughly. Remove stuffing from poultry, and place in a bowl. Fluff with a spoon or fork, and then serve.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Old-fashioned Celery Dressing

Celery Dressing in Bowl

Dressing (or stuffing as I often call it) is one of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving meal, so when I came across a hundred-year-old recipe for Celery Dressing I decided to give it a try. This recipe makes a bread dressing that is embedded with lots of celery, and is nicely seasoned with sage.

Here’s the original recipe:

Source: Mrs. DeGraf’s Cook Book (1922)

Most times when I make hundred-year-old recipes, I try to follow the recipe as closely as I can, but with this recipe I ended up making several adaptations. When I updated the recipe, I quadrupled it.  The original recipe didn’t make much stuffing.

I used 1-inch soft bread pieces rather than dried bread crumbs.  This recipe called for an awfully lot of butter (3/4 cup of butter for every 2 cups of bread crumbs), so I reduced the amount when updating the recipe. Maybe the very large amount of butter would work if I’d used dried bread crumbs – but even then it seems like it would be too much.

Finally, I didn’t have any onion juice, so instead of using the juice, I used finely chopped onions.

This dressing can be stuffed into a turkey. Addiitonal adaptations may need to be made (such as addiing both or other liquid) if cooked in a casserole dish.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Celery Dressing

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: moderate
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This recipe makes enough for a 9-10 pound turkey.

8 cups 1-inch pieces of bread or bread cubes (I tore bread into small pieces.)

1 cup butter

4 cups chopped celery

4 teaspoons onion juice or 1/2 cup finely chopped onions

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons ground sage

Melt butter in a skillet, stir in the celery (and chopped onions, if used). Sauté for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Stir in the salt, pepper, and sage (and onion juice, if used). Pour over the bread pieces and stir to combine. Stuff turkey with the dressing, then roast turkey.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Old-fashioned Apple Raisin Stuffing

Apple Raisin Stuffing

Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching and I’m trying out old recipes to see which ones I want to serve on the big day. The stuffing I usually make contains celery, onions, and sage, and seems a bit boring, so I pulled out an old recipe for Apple Raisin Stuffing.

Apple Raisin Stuffing is wonderfully different from my old standby. It has a lovely, sweet cinnamon taste that reminds me of warm cinnamon bread. This recipe is a keeper. My children never have been fans of stuffing—but I actually think they might like this rendition, and plan to serve it over the holidays.

For my practice run, I divided the recipe in half and stuffed a chicken. I think that the full recipe would make about the right amount to stuff a small turkey.

Apple Raisin Stuffing

  • Servings: 4 - 5
  • Difficulty: easy
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Apple Raisin Stuffing

1 large apple, pared and diced (about 1 cup diced apple)

1 cup raisins

10 cups bread cubes

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

Combine diced apples, raisins, and bread cubes in a large bowl. In a separate bowl stir together the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, sugar, and water; then pour over the bread mixture. Stir gently to combine. If too dry, add additional water. Use stuffing with poultry or pork.

When I wrote this post, I was uncertain whether to call this dish stuffing. . . or dressing. . . or filling. My family often calls it filling—but I think that might be a regional term.