Serves 6-8
Adapted from the Joy of Cooking
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
1 lb firm, stale bread
Cut into 1 inch cubes. You should have about 10 cups. Toast in oven 5-10 minutes until golden brown.
1 lb pork sausage
cook until browned on medium high heat in skillet or large Dutch Oven 10-20 minutes. Remove sausage with slotted spoon, set aside on a paper towel and reserve drippings in the pan.
Add to the same pan or Dutch Oven:
1/2 stick butter or 1/4 cup lard
Heat the drippings and butter from the sausage.
Add:
4 cups peeled & diced apples
2 cups chopped onion (1 large onion that is about 1/2 lb)
1 cup finely chopped celery (about 3 stalks
Cook apples, celery and onions until they are tender. If you have left over sausage from another dish, then you can cook the apples in just the butter or lard.
Remove veggies from the pan into a large bowl.
Stir in:
1/4 to 1/2 cup mincd parseley
1 TBSP minced fresh sage OR 1 tsp dry sage
1 TBSP fresh thyme OR 1 tsp dry time
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
Add the bread cubes to the mix and toss until well combined.
Add to moisten only:
1/3 to 1 cup chicken stock or broth.
Spoon into the bird.
OR
If you are baking the stuffing separately–
Add:
2 large eggs well beaten.
Place in buttered baking dish or keep in Dutch Oven and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.