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Potato Stuffing
2 cups hot mashed potato 1 cup bread-crums 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/2 tablespoon salt 1 teaspoon sage 4 tablespoons melted butter or other fat 2 tablespoons onion-juice Mix the ingredients in the order given.
A dry, sage-scented potato stuffing of the kind meant for goose, duck or a fat roasting fowl. It comes together in five minutes, so the only real decisions are seasoning and how you cook it.
- YieldAbout 3 cups, enough for a 4-5 lb chicken or a small duck. For a goose or a 12 lb turkey, double or triple it.
- That half tablespoon of salt1/2 tablespoon is 1 1/2 teaspoons, which is a great deal for 3 cups of stuffing, especially if the mashed potato was already salted and the butter is salted. Start with 1/2 teaspoon and taste.
- Onion juicePeriod cookbooks obtained it by grating an onion and pressing the pulp through cloth, or by scraping a halved onion against a coarse grater to collect the liquid. Two tablespoons of grated onion with its juice does the same job; the likely aim was flavour without visible pieces.
- Bread-crumsThe recipe does not say which kind; in books of this period 'bread-crumbs' usually meant dry crumbs from stale bread, grated or crushed. Dry crumbs will absorb moisture from the potato and help the mix hold together.
- SageA teaspoon measure almost certainly indicates dried, rubbed sage rather than fresh. If using fresh, chop it and use about a tablespoon.
- Mix while hotThe instruction to use hot mashed potato is worth following: the butter blends in readily and the crumbs take up moisture more evenly. Cold mashed potato tends to give a stiffer mix.
- If you stuff the birdPack it loosely and check that the centre of the stuffing reaches 165F, not just the meat. Potato is dense and heats slowly.
- Baked separatelySpread in a buttered dish, dot with a little more fat, and bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes until browned on top. This is the more reliable route and gives you a crust.
Potato stuffings belong to the fat-bird tradition: goose, duck, and roasting fowl whose drippings a starchy, sage-heavy filling could soak up. Potato stuffing with onion and sage is often associated with Irish roast goose, and versions of it appear in American household cookery as an economical alternative to an all-bread dressing. The use of onion juice rather than chopped onion is characteristic of the period's taste for seasoning that could be tasted but not seen.