Recipes for Thanksgiving Dressing or Stuffing are highly personal; we are generally drawn to the comfort and familiarity of childhood foods at the holidays. I don’t remember ever seeing a cornbread sausage stuffing on any of the starch laden Thanksgiving tables of my Mennonite youth. We dined on roasted turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn (homegrown, cut off the cob, and put into the freezer), tossed salad, jello salad, homemade dinner rolls that were soft as pillows, and a wide selection of desserts. And there was always Dressing: really more like a casserole, this side dish was composed of toasted bread cubes, bits of chicken, diced vegetables, spices, butter, milk, eggs and chicken broth.
I’ve never actually seen a complete recipe for Dressing. It is not stuffed in the turkey, but rather baked in a casserole dish. It is sometimes served with chicken on other non-holiday occasions. It’s one of those dishes that frustrates less experienced cooks because the Mennonite Matriarch will shrug as she wiped her hands on her apron and say, “ I just add a bit of this and some of that and liquid til it’s slightly soggy, and then, well you know how to bake it.” I determined that this odd, frustrating year of 2020 would be the one in which I would document the recipe for posterity.
For many years, I have tried to emulate my mother-in-law’s Dressing, a rather selfish move, since this is clearly one of the ways to my husband’s heart. Her secret touch was to brown the mixture in melted butter before baking it. Like Julia Childs, Sarah was a firm believer that butter made everything better. She was a wonderful cook with a keen eye for detail.
As a disclaimer, I will tell you that this dish is time consuming to assemble and produces a sink full of dirty dishes. It will be a gift of love to your family. I make the dressing several days before Thanksgiving, but do not bake it until just before the meal. It does not suffer from being stored in the refrigerator for a few days. I always make a large batch and then tuck a few small pans away in the freezer, to be thawed and baked at a later time. This recipe makes two 9 x 13 inch pans plus a little more.
Dressing
2 large (20 oz. each) loaves of bread, cubed and toasted
3 c. cooked, chopped chicken ( I often use a rotisserie chicken; I throw the bones and skin into a pot with some water and turn it into homemade chicken broth)
2 c. diced onion
3 c. diced celery
3 c. carrots (small dice)
2 c. potatoes (small dice, peeled or unpeeled)
1 c. roughly chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp. dried thyme (or use 2 tsp. minced fresh thyme)
5 large eggs
4 c. milk
7 c. chicken broth
1 c. butter, divided
Cube the bread and toast on sheet pans for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. You want the bread dried out and crisp but not too dark. Set aside to cool. Drizzle a bit of olive oil into a large skillet over medium heat; add the onions and celery and sauté for 10 minutes. Pour the onions and celery into your very largest mixing bowl. (I call mine the baby bathtub bowl)! Put the carrots and potatoes back into the skillet (or a lidded pot), add water or chicken broth to nearly cover. With the lid on, simmer the vegetables for about 15 minutes, until tender. Drain the broth, saving it to use in the dressing. Add the carrots and celery to the mixing bowl.
Add the chicken, parsley, all the seasonings, and the toasted bread cubes to the party bowl and give it a stir. In another large container, crack the eggs and whisk with a fork. Stir in the 4 cups of milk, 1/2 cup melted butter, and 6 cups of chicken broth ( save the last cup to add as needed to the mixture). Add this liquid mixture to all the dry ingredients and gently stir with a long spoon. As the bread crumbs soak up the liquids, add the additional cup of chicken broth. You want to end up with a little liquid puddling in the bottom of the bowl. Yes, it is a bit subjective.
Prepare two 9 x 13 inch casserole pans and one more small pan by greasing with butter or spraying with cooking spray. Sometimes I use an array of tin baking pans. Unlike baking a cake, the exact pan sizes are not paramount. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of butter to melt. Drop the dressing mixture into the skillet by large spoonfuls. Let brown for a few minutes and then flip the dressing over to brown the other side. You don’t want it to cook through; you are only enhancing the flavor with a bit of butter crispiness. A few minutes on each side should achieve this.
With a pancake turner, remove the dressing and pile it into the prepared pans, being sure to include any crusts from the skillet. Repeat 6 or 7 times, each time adding a tablespoon of butter, until all the dressing has been browned in butter. You may need more than the allotted 1/2 cup of butter. Allow the pans to cool for an hour or so. If you are not planning to bake the dressing casseroles right away, cover with foil and refrigerate for up to two days. If you want to freeze any, cover tightly with foil and then wrap well with plastic wrap. May freeze for up to a month. Thaw before baking.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until warmed through and crusty brown on the top.
