Marie’s stuffing

Here’s the scoop on how I do the stuffing.

Wednesday night, take turkey out of fridge, unwrap it (save cooking timetable that’s on the wrapper), wash thoroughly inside and out and remove the neck and package of giblets. Open the package and thoroughly wash the giblets as well as the neck. Put the neck and giblets in a bowl and tightly cover. Cover the turkey. Return all to fridge.

Thursday around 6:30AM.  😊

Place the neck and giblets in your biggest saucepan, add 1 or 2 celery stalks with leaves (I coarsely cut the celery into chunks), about 6 peppercorns, 1-2 bay leaves, an onion (quartered). 

Fill the pan with water (you want lots of water to use for stuffing and gravy), bring to a boil and then simmer for 2-3 hours.  You’re supposed to remove the liver after about 20 minutes but I usually forget to do that. We’re not dead yet, so don’t worry if the liver is in a bit longer.

You’ll know all has cooked long enough when the meat on the neck falls off the bones when you poke it with a fork. 

Remove the neck and giblets from the liquid and let cool enough to handle. 

You probably want to remove and discard all the celery, peppercorns, bay leaf and what’s left of the onion.

Chop up the neck meat (but don’t dice the meat). I don’t use all of the giblets – just enough for the flavor and I finely dice the giblets. I don’t use the heart because I think it’s gross. So throw that away. I use all of the liver.

To make the stuffing: VERY important – use a dutch oven or stock pot for this part so you have enough room to toss the stuffing mix.

I pretty much follow the directions on the Pepperidge Farm CUBED and seasoned stuffing mix except I use a whole stick of butter. I use about half of the butter to saute 2 or 3 stalks of coarsely chopped celery, and 1 coarsely chopped onion. Once the veggies are done, add the amount of water on the package but use the water that the giblets were cooked in. (Make sure you save enough of the giblet broth for gravy). Add the rest of the butter, bring to a boil and follow the directions.

Voila!

Happy Thanksgiving