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Stuffing for Fowl
4 C stale bread 1. t salt 1st pepper ⅛ egg Mrs. Geo. Smith. 1 T sage 2 T butter Onion to taste Break bread in small pieces and after mixing with these ingredients thoroughly, add water to moisten. Pack lightly in fowl. The liver, heart and gizzard may be ground and used in the stuffing if desired. 132
A plain bread stuffing of the kind that turned up at every church supper in the early twentieth century. The ingredient list is terse, so a few decisions are left to the cook.
- AbbreviationsC is cup, T is tablespoon, t is teaspoon. So: 4 cups stale bread, 1 tablespoon sage, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, 1 egg, onion to taste.
- Quantity and yieldFour cups of torn bread makes roughly enough for a 4-5 lb chicken. For a turkey of 12 lb or more, triple it.
- SageThe recipe does not say whether the sage is dried or fresh; a tablespoon most likely means dried, rubbed sage. That is an assertive amount by current taste; start with two teaspoons if you are unsure, and if using fresh sage, use about three times the volume, chopped fine.
- OnionThe recipe leaves the amount open; one small onion, chopped fine, suits this quantity of bread. Softening it in the butter first is worth doing, as raw onion in a packed stuffing stays sharp and crunchy.
- MoistureWater was the thrifty choice; stock or the giblet cooking liquid gives far more flavour for the same effort. Add it a few spoonfuls at a time until the bread is damp but not sodden.
- Pack lightlyThis is the line that matters. A tightly packed cavity heats slowly, which both keeps the bread doughy and delays the bird reaching temperature.
- Food safetyStuffing inside a bird must reach 165F on an instant-read thermometer taken in the centre of the stuffing, not just in the thigh. Because of the egg and the giblets, baking the stuffing separately in a buttered dish at 350F for 35-40 minutes is the more reliable route.
- GibletsSimmer liver, heart and gizzard until tender before grinding. The gizzard in particular stays rubbery if it only gets the roasting time.
Recipes in a book of this kind carry the name of the woman who submitted them, which is why it reads as a roster of a town as much as a set of instructions. Bread stuffing seasoned heavily with sage is among the most widespread American dressings, built on stale bread that no household would have thrown out; sage's long association with poultry and pork in English cookery came over with the colonists.