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Prune and Apple Stuffing
3 cups bread crumbs cup melted fat 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups mashed pota- 1 cup apples, pared, cut½ cup soaked, stewed and in eighths, and stewed in a little sugar Few grains pepper stoned prunes ½ cup nut meats, broken into pieces, if liked
An ingredient list for a fruit-and-potato dressing of the sort meant for goose, duck or pork, where sweetness and starch are set against fat. No method is given, so the assembly is left to the cook.
- Method, in briefCombine the crumbs, mashed potato, melted fat, salt and pepper, then fold in the stewed prunes, the stewed apple and the nuts last so the fruit stays in pieces. The mixture should hold together loosely, not pack into a paste.
- Bread crumbsThe text says only 'bread crumbs'; stuffings of this period generally assume soft crumbs torn from day-old bread rather than the fine dried crumbs sold for coating. Dried crumbs will drink up the fat and potato and turn the dressing dense.
- FatThe quantity of melted fat has lost its fraction in this text; the original was most likely a quarter or a half cup. Judge by feel for 3 cups of crumbs plus 2 cups of potato. Butter, goose fat or pork drippings all suit it.
- PrunesThe recipe wants them soaked, stewed and stoned. Modern pitted prunes are soft enough that a short soak in hot water will usually do; long stewing collapses them. 'Stoned' simply means pitted.
- ApplesStew the eighths only until barely tender in a spoonful or two of sugar and a little water, then drain well. Wet fruit is what makes a stuffing sodden.
- Cooking it safelyAny dressing cooked inside a bird must reach 165F at its centre, measured with a thermometer, not just the surrounding meat. Baked separately in a greased dish, 350F for 35 to 45 minutes, covered for the first half.
- YieldThe listed volumes come to something over 6 cups, enough for a large bird or a loin of pork, with some left to bake alongside.
Fruit in poultry stuffing is older than the American cookbook and survived in it mainly for rich, fatty birds: goose and duck, where the acidity of apple and the sweetness of prune cut the grease, and later pork. The mashed potato here is the frugal part, a stretcher that also keeps the mixture moist without more fat. The broken nut meats are marked optional in the original.