‘Tis the season, I suppose. Here’s my turkey, stuffing, and gravy recipe. I won’t write a big blog post on the history, but this has been passed down several generations and has its roots in SF Bay Area.
Turkey Stuffing and Gravy
Ingredients:
big turkey, ~20 lbs, including giblets
2 whole loaves sourdough crumbs
½ cube butter
2 yellow onions, chopped fine, skins reserved
1 head of celery, chopped fine, root-end and tops reserved
2 eggs
1 cup milk or half & half
½ oz Bell's turkey seasoning
salt
pepper
Directions:
Boil giblets, celery root/tops, onion skins, in 2+ cups water. Strain and reserve broth and giblets.
In 12" pan, sautee butter, onion, and celery. Remove meat from turkey neck and add to sautee. Mince liver, add to sautee. Discard gizzard.
In large bowl, mix bread crumbs, seasoning, salt, pepper, and sauteed veggies.
Beat eggs and milk. Add slowly to crumb mixture, stirring constantly. If too dry, add broth and/or milk.
Stuff front and back of turkey. Sew up both ends.
Bake turkey, breast-down at 325° for ~20 minutes per pound. Maybe less. Cook until temp is 180° in the thigh and 165° in stuffing.
Gravy:
Save that turkey broth from the giblets. You’re going to need it here.
When the turkey is done, remove turkey from oven, cover with foil, and let cool a bit. Using the handles on the rack, lift turkey out of the pan. Pour juices and fat out of the pan into a big jar or measuring cup.
Place pan on stove over medium heat. Using a spatula to scrape fond, thoroughly mix in flour, about a tablespoon at a time, maybe 4-6 tablespoons total, depending on size of turkey. Add a more turkey fat to thin if necessary. Allow to sizzle slightly but not burn. Adjust heat if necessary. Continue stirring with flat side of spatula until all lumps are gone all fond is scraped, and it has thickened into a thin brown paste.
While stirring, slowly add turkey broth (from stuffing recipe) to thin into gravy. Keep stirring to remove lumps. If you run out of broth before it’s thin enough, you can use water from boiling potatoes, or canned chicken broth, or plain water.
Transfer to saucepan to keep warm.
#turkey #thanksgiving #stuffing
